by AMY BARRATT

It’s Hey-Kids-Let’s-Put-on-a-Show-Week here in English Montreal. Two by Four Productions, Scratch My Back and Po Productions are all offering low-budget, low-pressure theatre experiences with a fringe sensibility. All three are brimming with youthful can-do energy.

Shit Job

That’s the irresistible title of Two by Four’s latest creation, which opened last night at the Théâtre Ste-Catherine. This is the company that went for an equally broad appeal with Homeroom last fall. Two of the same scribes, Etan Muskat and Brent Skagford, are on board for Shit Job, a comedy that doesn’t even need the tagline “for anyone who has ever hated their job” to be instantly appealing to the broadest possible audience. Two by Four has its foundations in Sunday Night Improv at TSC, and many of the actors, including Massimo and Nick Brazao, are also stand-ups. Shit Job also boasts the presence of Paul Spence and Dave Lawrence—of the cult film FUBAR—as a DJ duo for a “classic rock” radio station. To April 29, 9 p.m., at Théàtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.), $10–$12, 284-3939.

One Good Marriage

Newlyweds Steph and Stewart will be telling their story in three different Plateau venues over five nights in this Scratch My Back production. The play is by young Toronto-based playwright Sean Reycraft and this is its first production in Montreal. The show opened April 19 at Café Rico, the first stage on the circuit.

Director Erin Brubacher says she chose non-traditional venues for practical as well as creative reasons. As a nascent theatre company, Scratch My Back has no funding, placing even modest theatre spaces beyond their means. Also, One Good Marriage is a play that deals with the need for community, so she looked for venues that had a community spirit. Following a tragedy so devastating it is almost comic, the couple in the play are “shopping for a new community,” explains Brubacher. “So we thought it would be fun to explore the very different communities that arise around three different places: a café, a nightclub and a dance studio.” April 20 & 22 at le Belmont (4483 St-Laurent), and April 21 & 23 at Studio Mange mes pieds (10 des Pins W., #214), all shows at 7:30 p.m., $10–$15, 524-4065.

Goodnight Desdemona (Goodmorning Juliet)

More Canadian content can be found this week at MainLine Theatre, where Po Productions is tackling the Governor General’s Award-winning play by Ann-Marie MacDonald. In attempting to discover a comedic source for both Romeo and Juliet and Othello, Professor Constance Ledbelly finds herself magically transported into the worlds of both plays.

Po Productions is composed mainly of current Concordia students not content to wait around for interesting projects to come their way. This is their second production following A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2004. The company’s three founders, Lindsay Petts, Kristen Witczak and Yaelle Wittes, are all “theatre generalists” having at various times each designed, directed, acted and stage-managed.

Goodnight Desdemona (Goodmorning Juliet) is both a loving homage to and a witty satire of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s smart theatre that is also incredibly entertaining. To April 23, 8 p.m., at MainLine Theatre (3997 St-Laurent), $7–$10, 880-8708.

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