by AMY BARRATT

For days I’ve been searching for a strategy to deal with the array of brightly coloured press releases spread out on the floor of my office. It must be Fringe time again. If we’ve learned anything over the past decade and a half (yup, our little Fringe is 15 this year), it’s that there’s no sure-fire approach to this fringing business. But, in order to try to ease the way somewhat, I will now take questions from fictitious Mirror readers:

FR: Does the fact that there are almost 100 indoor shows on offer increase your chances of picking a good one?

AB: Hard to say, but overall, this looks like a high-quality Fringe.

FR: Does the fact that most shows are short—about an hour or less—mean that you can squeeze them all in over the 10-day festival?

AB: I don’t think so, but if you come close, I’d like to hear from you.

FR: Does the fact that there are 11 official and several more “off” venues suggest that the serious fringer should acquire at least two wheels?

AB: Yes. Although most of them are still clustered between Prince Arthur and Mont-Royal, not far from the Main. A couple of venues are up in Mile End this year and one is as far south as Ste-Catherine (the aptly named Théâtre Ste-Catherine).

FR: If I can only see three shows at this year’s Fringe, what should they be?

AB: An Unfortunate Woman, Moving in Reverse, and Hip-Hop 4 Dummeez.

Sure picks

• An Unfortunate Woman is a new one-woman show by the brilliant Nicola Gunn (The Elephant Club, Tyrannous Rex). The diminutive chameleon from Melbourne, Australia, plays multiple characters in this “awkward and astonishing tale” directed by Mark Chavez.

• Moving in Reverse marks Fringe favourite Susan Jeremy’s return. This leggy, Brooklynese lesbian (try saying that 10 times fast) blew us away a couple of years ago with P.S. 69. In this new show, she plays several very different women from Long Island whose lives intersect in surprising ways.

• Although Hip-Hop 4 Dummeez has nothing to do with any character from the Bible, it is, like Job: The Hip-Hop Musical, the work of brilliant hip hop comedians Sable & Batalion. In their Grafenberg All-Stars personas, namely Bushman and VowelMovement, the duo here present a crash course in hip hop. Funny as they are, these Montrealers, now based in L.A., are dead serious about the music. Also, don’t miss the launch of the Grafenberg CD G Marks the Spot, on Saturday, June 18, at Le Swimming. The boys will apparently also be performing in the opening night show tonight, June 9, at the beer tent.

One for all

FR: Are there some one-person shows to watch out for this year?

AB: You know it. Apart from the two mentioned above, there are yonks of solo shows with good buzz. Eight of them in no particular order:

• Man 1, Bank 0 could be this year’s Father’s Day. Already the toast of several festivals, Patrick Combs makes a flying visit here (June 10, 11, 12 only) before beginning an Off-Broadway run. This is one of those “do something outrageous and then tell us about it” shows. What Combs did was deposit a junk sweepstakes cheque—for $95,000—in the bank. The bank, suffice it to say, did not laugh all the way to Patrick Combs.

• Ariadne’s Thread, by Talya Rubin, a Montrealer now based in Melbourne, comes highly recommended. The piece was inspired by a broken heart and a “self-imposed exile” in a cave house on a Greek island.

• JEM ROLLS (no all-lowercase crap for this poet) is back with a Charm Offensive. Montrealers can’t get enough of this Scottish bard’s thundering presence.

• The Reefer Man, subtitled “a criminal comedy,” is the somewhat autobiographical story of an unhappy lawyer who just wants to grow weed in peace (by Vancouver’s Russell Bennett). The show won raves at several Fringes out west and is said to be terrific theatre regardless of the viewer’s relationship to marijuana.

• A Brief History of Warfare: “multimedia comedy cabaret”

• Juliet & Romeo: condensed, expressionist Shakespeare.

• Start Your Own Religion in 6 Simple Steps: recommended for its quintessentially “Fringe” title.

• Fear of a Brown Planet: recommended solely because the publicity photo shows George Bush digitally altered to look like a black man.

Home vids and honeys

FR: What is former Fringe Volunteer Coordinator Tristan Brand up to these days?

AB: Funny you should ask. Tristan’s documentary, Fringe: The Handheld Movie, will be screened at the outdoor stage, June 12 at 9 p.m. Shot entirely during last year’s fest, it promises to reveal just how much it’s possible to forget in 12 months. In addition, Tristan has written a play called Aleutian Passage, based on his own experience working as a marine biologist on Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

FR: Any live nude girls?

AB: Well, let’s see… There’s a show called Nude Girlz, purporting to be a glimpse into the world of the strip bar and the women who make their living there. Also, burlesque comes to the Fringe thanks to Miss Sugarpuss and her Burley-Q Revue. I can’t promise skin, but Sex and La Cité, in which the four gal pals from Sex and the City are transplanted to Montréal, sounds like a hoot. And of course, there’s always Shakti, achieving ecstatic union with herself in 1001 Nights (Arabian Nights).

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