Last night (September 8), the casts of 40 of the 110 shows at this year's Vancouver Fringe Festival took to the stage at Performance Works on Granville Island for the first-ever Fringe-for-All.

Each cast was given exactly two minutes—and not a second more, unless they wanted to face the wrath of timekeeper and legendary host, David C. Jones—to convince members of the audience to come see their shows in full during the festival. 

Some casts opted to perform scenes from their shows, while others were a little more literal in their attempt to sell the audience on what they had planned for the stage. 

Didn't get a chance to go? Watch the videos below to see two-minute scenes from seven shows that were performed at last night's event. 

With more than 800 performances in total, the Vancouver Fringe Festival brings the city to theatrical life from September 8 to 18. Go here to see the full program schedule for all of 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival shows.

Find showtimes for WILD/SOCIETY here. 

Find showtimes for2 for Tea here. 

Find showtimes for The Seawall here. 

Find showtimes for The Dance Teacher here. 

Find showtimes for Hidden Stories here. 

Find showtimes for Hip.Bang! Presents: The History of Romance here. 

Find showtimes for The Orbweaver here.