by AMY BARRATT

This month in English theatre, the independents reign. In February, the mainstream companies will be saying it loud and proud.

This weekend offers a final chance to see the five indie shows in the Wildside Festival at the Centaur. Thursday evening, Jan. 19, it’s the boy-band musical BoyGroove at 7 p.m., followed by SaBooge’s imaginative and beautiful Fathom. The story of a boy with a freakish talent and the mother who tries to protect him from the world, it repeats Friday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. Ariadne’s Thread, a solo play set on a Greek island that blends ancient myth with contemporary reality, is at 9 p.m. that same night. The Envelope Plays, four weird and suspenseful monologues for men, wind up their run at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21, followed by Gareth Potter’s solo The Rape of Lucrece at 7 p.m., and a farewell concert for the boys of BoyGroove at 9 p.m.

Elsewhere in indie land, Equus by Peter Schaffer continues through Sunday, Jan. 22, at the student-run McGill Players Theatre. Andrew Farrar’s 9/11 parable, Tecumseh As a Doorstop, continues through Feb. 5 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine.

Upcoming shows at the TSC include Suburban Redux (Feb. 7–18), an Unwashed Grape production (they did Cuthbert’s Last Stand at the GLBT Theatre Festival), and another installment of 24-Hour Plays on Feb. 25.

Meanwhile, presented by and at Mainline Theatre is Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque, a “burlesque of Montreal history” by Patrick Goddard and Jeremy Hechtman. It takes as its starting point the “grand nettoyage” begun in 1947 that eventually shut down all of Montreal’s burlesque houses and, in the telling of the tale, attempts to revive, if only for one shimmering moment, our city’s Golden Age. Jan. 25–Feb. 12.

Chicago hellfire

Two significant openings share a Jan. 31 date. Playwright Vittorio Rossi is part of a Centaur season for the first time in a decade (actually, his one-act Little Blood Brother was part of Mainly Montreal in 1997, but his heyday at the theatre was in the late ’80s and early ’90s under Maurice Podbrey’s direction). Anyway, Hellfire Pass (love that title) is courageously billed as the first installment of “A Carpenter’s Trilogy”. Guess Rossi is hoping Gordon McCall’s love affair with Montreal playwrights will last beyond the current “Montreal Stories” season. Not that much info on the subject of Hellfire yet, but it’s set in Chicago in 1956 and is “inspired by true events.”

At Espace Libre, another anglo Montreal playwright makes the jump—not for the first time—to the French side. Rahul Varma’s Bhopal—a dramatization of the unspeakable chemical disaster that occurred in that city in 1984—is being co-produced by Varma’s Teesri Duniya and le Theatre Sortie de secours Jan. 31–Feb. 18. Some of the same actors from the English version originally produced in 2001 make the switch to French in this production directed by Philippe Soldevila.

The Segal gets back in the game Feb. 5–26 with their eagerly anticipated adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, directed by Peter Hinton. Montreal recently lost Hinton to the National Arts Centre where as Artistic Director of the English side, perhaps he will get some of the national attention he deserves. He has cast one of his and our favourite actors, Alison Darcy, as Nora.

Calling all Friends of Geordie: To celebrate 25 years of producing theatre for young audiences in Montreal and far beyond, Geordie Productions is throwing itself—and outgoing artistic director Elsa Bolam—a big bash in April. They’re trying to get in touch with everybody who has ever worked with Geordie in any capacity to personally invite them. If you’re a member of this club, send an e-mail to elsabolam@geordie.ca or call 845-9810 for all the details.

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