Academy at King Edward

I’ve decided to review local Edmonton businesses and institutions as they are for Fringe venues because I’m a Fringe and Unilocaler nerd like that. So keeping that in mind this review is for The Academy at King Edward as a BYOV (bring your own venue) for The Edmonton International Fringe Festival. This is not a review for The Academy at King Edward as an educational institution. This is also not a review of any shows I’ve seen here. Let’s go.
The Academy at King Edward (which I’ll shorten to Academy for this review) is one of the better BYOVs for the Fringe. It is away from the main site, but there is a box office right across the street, which is really nice. And from working The Fringe box office before I can tell you that the King Edward box office is much quieter than the other one (less lineups = yay!). There is parking by Kind Edward School (which is the venue right across the street). It’s a little pricy. You might be able to find parking on the street, but it’s a residential area so this could be limited.
The seating for The Academy is on stepped platforms, so you’re sitting at a higher level than the rows below you. This is great because unless you get The Friendly Giant in front of you (or you’re really short) you’ll probably be able to see the stage well. There is professional lighting and sound at this venue, which is nice. I don’t know if there’s AC inside, but I’ve never found this venue to be super hot. The chairs are foldout chairs, so like most Fringe shows the seating isn’t super comfortable, but for an hour it’s alright.
Two bad things about The Academy. One is you don’t have access to any washrooms inside. There’s a port-​a-​potty outside if you’re desperate, but if you can wait and walk 5 minutes to the washrooms inside at the main box office I’d suggest that. The other thing is that this venue is right across the street from the King Edward Elementary School venue. It’s really easy to get confused and accidentally wait in line at the wrong venue. Just be sure to double check that you’re at the right venue for the show you are seeing.