by CHRIS BARRY

And then, suddenly, Montreal had a scene. Yes, that’s right, culture buffs, and we’re not talking ’bout the much-ballyhooed local music scene either, we’re talking theatre. Anglo theatre! Imagine? Whoever woulda thunk it?

Well, Jeremy Hechtman for one. Hechtman, revered and reviled in these parts as the guy who launched the annual Fringe festival some 15 odd years ago, is positively stoked about the upswing the long-suffering Anglo theatre community has been enjoying recently, and not just because he’s played a key role developing it into something of note.

“It used to be we’d get together a lot, the theatre companies in town, and bitch about the media and how we weren’t attracting any audiences. But the fact of the matter—and I’m as guilty of this as everybody else—is that we just weren’t putting on particularly good shows. “So,” explains Hechtman, “we started putting on better shows, and we started to get better audiences. And if one company starts getting better audiences, so does everybody.”

Which all sounds quite simple, of course, but how does something like that happen? If it’s still the same crowd responsible for so many of the god-fuckin’-awful productions local theatre enthusiasts have been subjected to over the years, like, what’s changed to make ’em suddenly get hip?

You build it, they stay

“It’s simple,” says Hechtman, “There are more venues now for young talent to develop their work.” Hechtman, who’s launching the all-new, all-renovated, MainLine Theatre this week with Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque, a production likely to play to predominately full houses, says that the emergence of venues like the MainLine is helping to keep local talent from heading to the centre of the universe, aka Toronto.

“We’ve always had some of the best theatre training institutions in North America right here in Montreal,” boasts Hechtman. “Think about it: the National Theatre School, Concordia, John Abbott with their professional theatre program, the Dome at Dawson. But these students would come study in Montreal and then disappear because they couldn’t get in to the Centaur, which was pretty well the only game in town. So now, with the Fringe, Théâtre Ste-Catherine, the MainLine, Gravy Bath, there’s more opportunity for these people to stick around, work their craft and get better. It’s had a tremendously positive influence. And yes, I do know at least a few people who are making a living as actors here.”

And he ain’t just talking about the politicians at city hall, badabing! “There’s a real sense of community now,” continues Hechtman, who won’t reveal the cost of developing the MainLine into a permanent venue. “Let’s just say we can afford the rent provided we keep the place full, but we can’t afford anything else. It’s all volunteers who’ve set this place up. Shit, my father was in here building seats, my mother-in-law made cushions for our lobby. It’s been pretty grassroots.”

“What’s really helped,” claims Hechtman, “is that pretty well every theatre in town has donated equipment to us. CFCF-TV donated lights and curtains, Concordia some seating risers, the Théâtre Ste-Catherine donated some chairs, as did Gravy Bath, the Saidye Bronfman just donated a lighting board, the Dome a lighting system, it’s really been quite something. The bottom line,” he explains, “is we all have a vested interest in each other’s success, because the more theatre that’s out there—good theatre at least—the more people will go.”

Sleaze draw

To this end Hechtman hopes Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque will be seeing ’em lining up around the block this month. And why not? Written by Hechtman and his long-standing partner in crime, Patrick Goddard, the production chronicles the good ol’ days of Montreal sleaze, that wonderful post-war period when burlesque was king and Montreal commonly referred to as Havana North. Yes, all those good times our forefathers enjoyed before Jean Drapeau and his detestable Morality Squad decided to go all Giulliani on the city’s ass and spark “le grand nettoyage”—effectively dismantling Montreal’s long-standing burlesque tradition in the process.

All indicators suggest JC and the Last Burlesque might truly be a worthwhile show to check out, and even if it ends up kind of sucking, well, at the very least you’ll know there’ll be nudity to enjoy.

“Well yeah,” confirms Hechtman, “you can’t do a production about striptease without delivering the payoff. But it’s not exactly like we have two nuns fist-fucking a goat or anything. It’s all very tasteful.”

Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque, until Feb. 12 at Mainline Theatre (3997 St- Laurent), $15, see stage listings for showtimes

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