by AMY BARRATT

We have seen the face of wildness in 2007 and it is the face of a woman. Apart from one evangelical Christian with a wedge of cheese on his head, nearly every face on stage at the Wildside Festival, beginning in early January, will be young and female. Centaur artistic director Gordon McCall, assisted by SaBooge Theatre’s Andrew Shaver, has come up with an eclectic line-up of five productions from here, there and everywhere for the 10th annual Wildside.

As the winner of the Centaur award for Best English Production at last spring’s Fringe, Living Shadows: A Story of Mary Pickford anchors the Wildside schedule. Written and performed by Tracey Power and directed by Brian Dooley, it’s an effective exploration of the life and career of the Canadian-born silent screen star who became known as “America’s Sweetheart.”

Also picked up from the Fringe and also a solo show is Pentecostal Wisconsin. Ryan Paulson’s personal and reportedly hilarious play recounts his upbringing among the Scandinavian-Americans of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a people equally devoted to cheese-making and religious ecstasy.

The solo trend continues with Section O, Anana Rydvald’s multi-character mask piece that premiered last season to unanimous raves. Rydvald takes on the voices and mannerisms of five women and girls living on a psych ward. Directed by Stacey Christodoulou, Section O walks the tightrope between comedy and tragedy, making it safely to the other side.

At one point, this year’s Wildside looked like it could end up being all one-person shows, says Shaver, but “Gord is always interested in having an ensemble piece.” Enter Carrie Bradshaw and friends. Sex and La Cité: Part Deux is what my predecessor Gaëtan Charlebois would call classic gonzo theatre. It doesn’t just have a lot of pop culture references, it is a pop culture reference. The original Sex and La Cité and this sequel spoof the HBO series Sex and the City, relocating Carrie and her friends to our fair shores. Is it fluff? An extended comedy sketch? Absolutely. Is it well done? A giggle? Ben oui.

The final show in the festival, although local, is the only one that hasn’t yet been seen in Montreal. Misery Loves Company is an original script from Waking the Girl Productions, the team that did an impressive job with Denise Boucher’s The Fairies Are Thirsty two Fringes ago. They’ve since toured Nova Scotia with Fairly Stale: A Story Unbound, an original play by Amanda Kellock. Founded by Gillian Ferrier and Vanessa Matsui while they were students at Concordia, Waking the Girl is devoted to producing local works by and about women as well as socially conscious works. Misery Loves Company, their Wildside entry, is a black comedy, written by Ferrier, about being young, female, “over-educated and under-stimulated” and the trouble that combination can lead to.

Get schooled

Low on funds from all the Christmas shopping? Student theatre is a good cheap bet this weekend. The NTS graduating class presents Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard tonight through Saturday at the Monument National (1192 St-Laurent) in an adaptation by David Mamet (!), $7, (514) 871-2224.

Concordia’s theatre department ends its run of The Queens by Normand Chaurette this weekend at the Cazalet Theatre (Loyola Campus). Dec. 14–16, 8 p.m, and Dec. 17, 2 p.m., $5–$10, (514) 828-2424, ext. 4742

The Wildside runs Jan 9–20 at the Centaur Theatre (453 St-François-Xavier), $15 per show or $40 for the superpass. See www.centaurtheatre.com for the full schedule.

>> Stage Listings