Fringe benefits

Highlights and hijinks at the 20th annual
Montreal Fringe Festival and OFFTA

NON-LINEAR LUNACY: Uncalled For

by NEIL BOYCE


Two decades of the Montreal Fringe Festival. For a moment, reflect on the artists you may have seen over the years: Mari Osani, TJ Dawe, Susan Jeremy, Jem Rolls, Die Roten Punkte, Solid State... and then, there were all those other shows you suffered through which fade from memory. Keep that in mind as we begin the 2010 Fringe (deluxe edition).

A string of special Fringe After Dark events begin a 10-day lead-up to the 20th anniversary of the fest, and continue throughout. Some shows have already passed (like the Strip Spelling Bee), but there’s never any danger of being under-entertained at the Fringe. A few highlights:

On June 3, increasingly recondite improv group Uncalled For present Hypnogogic Logic, wherein they explore “the hallucinatory state between wakefulness and sleep.” Group members Matt Goldberg, Mike Hughes, Dan Jeannotte, and Anders Yates are especially proud right now: “In 2010,” they state, “Uncalled For reached an important long-term goal, and finally achieved a combined weight of 900 pounds. They have their sights set on hitting the 1,000-pound mark by mid-2011.” Leave all linear thinking at the door. (8 p.m., MainLine Theatre, 3997 St-Laurent)

SLOW DANCES AND SCRAPPY DAMES

Hawt Summer Slowdance Night pushes wallflowers onto the dancefloor with designated partners in an evening of 3/4-time nostalgia, billed as “high school with a happy ending.” That’s not what you think it means, perv. (Friday, June 4, 9:30 p.m., MainLine, $10)

Since its founding in 2006 by Georgia W. Tush, the Montreal Roller Derby League’s scrappy dames have been wowing local fans. Filles du Roi and Team Super Sweet will elbow each other furiously in a free event on Saturday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. (Aréna Saint-Louis, 5633 St-Dominique)

The Excursion Fringe Field Trip to Centre St-Ambroise is another fun and free event, with the brewery urging crowds to hop on bikes and roll down to the Centre St-Ambroise Terrace (5080 St-Ambroise) for an evening of BBQ and trivia on Sunday, June 6, starting at 6 p.m. Montreal’s Improv All Stars go on at 7, and the St. Ambroise Cycle Cinema is at 9 with a screening of much-loved ’80s treasure-hunt flick The Goonies.

The fruits of a special bilingual edition of 24 Hours pour Jouer! are revealed Monday, June 7 at MainLine. Theatre company Nuits d’encre have been producing the event since 2008, and this year are bringing anglophone and francophone artists together. Teams of playwrights, directors and actors have 24 hours to create four shows on one theme before they’re staged in front of an audience. (8 p.m., MainLine, $10)

OFFTA HOOK

Amid the hullabaloo of the Festival TransAmérique, its bratty younger sibling the OFFTA can get overlooked. There’s a Fringe-like playfulness to their (mostly francophone) programming—something perfectly captured in last Saturday’s MIXOFF event at Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui. The search for a missing sentient wolf-puppet, a man who finds a deer hoof growing from his foot, a Foosball table overgrown with vines, a character who changes language irrevocably… what could it all mean? I haven’t the foggiest, but this weird dance-theatre hybrid was great fun.

The next MIXOFF happens this Saturday and Sunday, June 5 and 6, with interdisciplinary artist Nathalie Derome and playwright/director Simon Boudreault.

FRINGE AFTER DARK CONTINUES TO
JUNE 20. INFO/TICKETS FOR ALL
FRINGE EVENTS: (514) 849-FEST,
MONTREALFRINGE.CA
OFFTA CONTINUES TO JUNE 6.
INFO: (514) 282-3900, OFFTA.COM