by AMY BARRATT

Listen. Hear that scraping, grinding sound? That's the gears of city bureaucracy slowly, slowly turning.

With only a week to go before all Fringe breaks loose, the 15-year-old Montreal Fringe Festival doesn't know if it will be allowed to use its usual outdoor headquarters, the Parc des Amériques at St-Laurent and Rachel. Oh the programs have all been printed instructing Fringers to visit the beer tent and box office at that location, but the ville de Montréal won't say yea or nay until June 8, one day before the festivities are set to begin. It's just their way of getting into that fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants Fringe spirit, I guess.

The June 9–19 festival is sure to go on regardless, with more shows in more venues than ever before.

"I just couldn't say no to anyone this year," explained producer Jeremy Hechtman last week. The shows in the 11 Plateau venues were all chosen by the usual lottery system that requires equal parts Quebec English, Quebec French, Rest-of-Canadian, and International companies, but this year's fringe also features a record number of Off venues, which range from the established (Theatre Ste-Catherine) to the ephemeral (One show, Last Call, is listed as playing at "various bars around the Plateau" and instructs Fringers: "Don't try to find us, we'll find you"). Many of these Off shows are local, bringing overall local content more in line with what is seen at other Fringe festivals. The total number of indoor shows - ranging from comedy to dance to opera to burlesque to you name it - is 97.

There'll be more about the Fringe in this space next week. But if you're jonesing for a theatre fix, there's no need to wait. Here's an overview of what else is in town.

• Underdog Productions' long-awaited double bill is now playing at the Cazalet Theatre on Concordia's Loyola campus. Fight the Power! Power to the People! and Malik Went and Got Himself a White Girl, both by Owen Belgrave, continue through Sunday.

• Tightrope Theatre presents The Envelope Plays by another local playwright, Gavin Drummond. Described as "four dark urban fairytales," they continue through the weekend at Theatre Ste-Catherine. 284-3939.

• Elysian River Theatre, reincarnated on the West Island, presents an original take on Alice in Wonderland, titled simply Wonderland, at John Abbott College's Casgrain Theatre. For adults and children 10 and over, it continues through June 11, 926-3992.

• Even further west, at Hudson's Village Theatre, Trouper Belle Productions presents Norm Foster's The Love List, now until June 12. It stars Don Anderson, last years' Best Actor MECCA winner for his solo performance in Gravy Bath's De Profundis.

• The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre's musical version of Lies My Father Told Me begins previews Sunday, June 5, at the Segal, 739-7944.

Infringement heads up

The second annual infringement festival is also coming together, with a reported 57 shows aboard. Unlike the Fringe, the infringement is not only about performance, or even mainly about theatre. Many of the acts listed on their Web site are musical, and there are also visual arts events and one literary one: Travesty Theatre's Indie Theatre Times and Review, AWOL for a year or so, will be re-launched. At press time, infringement venues had not been announced. Your best bet is to check their Web site frequently at www.infringementfestival.com.

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