Soon in theatres

Le Désir attrapé par la queue and S.C.R.E.W.
were two Fringe standouts

CHIRPY, NO-NONSENSE SEX ED:
Anna Berlyn and Lindsay Milner from S.C.R.E.W.

by NEIL BOYCE

In this year’s Fringe, there were a few standout shows by local companies who use the fest to workshop stuff they’ll likely remount in the fall. Some groups and actors to watch out for—they’ll be back soon:

Pablo Picasso’s 1941 play, Le Désir attrapé par la queue, is a tough piece to get right, but Véronick Raymond and her theatre group Pretium Doloris threw body and soul into it with great results.

It’s a work in progress, spattered with surrealism, delighting in absurdity that will probably never reach a definitive version. What was it about? In the broadest sense, we’re looking inside the mind of a writer/poet called Gros Pied (Stéfan Perreault) and his muse, la Tarte (Stéphanie Breton). A happy band of freaks surround them, with names like le Bout Rond and la Cousine.

More a series of striking tableaux than a story, the plot-less play shows a bright and garish world—everything here underscores an earthy, coarse sensuality. The cast are smeared with dirt and paint. Their clothes—when they wear them at all—are soiled, ragged and torn. Characters veer crazily from laughter to tears in an instant (Bréton punctuates scenes with a crazy HAHAHAHA!). But what impresses most, and this holds true for so much of French-language theatre here, is the total commitment to the work: how deeply actors and director have dedicated themselves to it.

The two leads are veteran Fringers; elsewhere in the fest, the charismatic Perreault (founder of the wonderful company Cadavre Exquis, in which Raymond also worked) recreates the title role in a popular cop-farce series with l’Inspecteur Drive plus saoul que jamais (“drunker than ever”).

Meanwhile, Breton, whose career works both sides of our linguistic divide, is trying for a Fringe record this year as she appears in two productions (she’s also in Dance Animal) as well as co-hosting the Fringe-for-all.

The almost random imagery informed by Picasso’s paintings—a group bubble bath, actors capering like monkeys, a load of potatoes dumped on stage—is set to a lush, orchestral soundtrack with live effects. Intelligent and bizarre, the play was a beautiful and dissociative experience.

S.C.R.E.W. (the Sexual Curriculum Remedial Education Workshop) is the brainchild of Montreal writer-director-actor Lindsay Milner and her company Flirt Productions. She’s the chirpy, no-nonsense Sex-Ed teacher Sarah Lovejoy, determined to set us right. Meanwhile, seated in the corner and ready to blast any breach of conduct with an air horn, is Miss Jane (Anna Berlyn); the prim and tweedy government supervisor.

A modern-day Maria from The Sound of Music, Lovejoy sweetly sings that “Doe, a deer...” song, changing it to “Cunt, the gateway to romance!” and so on. Another tune about bestiality (“Up on a hill sits a lonely goat-herd...”) is fortunately killed off by the air horn. With help from “audience volunteer” Alfredo Quimbar, the ABCs of Doing It were well covered in Milner’s Fringey and funny show.

A final note: it is your last chance to attend Cavalia, the Cirque du Soleil-influenced horse show/acrobatics/theatre spectacle. It’s a stunning show, but you will have to fork over a few dollars to see it (cavalia.net).