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Fringe-for-all frenzy Three critics-about-town give us their 10 choices from a total of 32 five-minute previews--in no particular order David Gobeil Taylor 1. Danespotting Great text, great acting, great music. Matt MacFadzean runs off a litany of Gen-X angst peppered with Shakespeare. Very polished and very Fringe: low-budget and high-quality. Should win the hotly contested prize for best poster, too. 2. MöcShplat Several veterans of the Montreal theatre scene team up to present a psychotic blood-and-guts clown show reminiscent of Mump & Smoot, the big hit of the '92 Fringe. All the dialogue is gibberish, all the action is fast-paced and all the costumes and props are appropriately zany. 3. La Grande Oeuvre du Capitaine Horribifabulo They asked the emcee to tell people to come see their show "even though it's in French." Well, it could have been in Esperanto and I would have liked it. Excruciatingly funny physical comedy, complete with Bugs Bunnyesque fencing. 4. Immaculate Misconceptions Catherine Kidd is a magnificent storyteller, recounting childhood memories of ABCs, menstruation and religious services. I'd never made the connection between eucharist-the-sacrament and euchre-the-card-game before.
6. The Cutting Room Floor Every Fringe there seems to be one group of youngsters who manage to slap together something topical and effective--this looks to be the show this year. A paean to stealing, set during last's summers punk riot on St-Laurent. 7. See Bob Run You can't go wrong in the Fringe with Daniel MacIvor. Julie Tamiko Manning takes on this one-woman show with ease, telling a fractured fairy tale about rape and feces. 8. The Baumgard Cuckoos Patrick Goddard performs his own clever, funny and poignant one-man show. His tale of hockey and his "whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" male philosophy should strike a chord with anyone who grew up in this country. 9. babaloo&ganoosh Clowns seem to be a theme in this year's Fringe. Steph Baptist is adorable as babaloo and Rick Miller is properly kinetic as the rollerblading ganoosh. 10. ManaMana Simple, engaging performances, juxtaposing a short history of feminine deities with tap dancing to the tune of "Pennsylvania 6-5000." Handing out magic wands to the audience was a nice touch--they make GREAT backscratchers. David Gobeil Taylor is the author of Zarathustra is Dead, Homo Erectus, Reagan II, Homo Alone and the upcoming Waiting for Homo. He also produced the Fringe festival in 1995 and 1996 and recently had Homo Alone remounted at the Centaur Theatre. Edward Fuller 1. Voices Beyond the Pale Though Daria Mondésire didn't present at the fringe-for-all, she is said to be serious and funny and my hope is that this will be a tour de force. Mondésire is a Vermont-based playwright and actress and this is her one-person show in which she portrays over 20 characters. It could be reminiscent of the nights not so long ago when Whoopie Goldberg and Lily Tomlin had smash solo shows on Broadway. 2. The Baumgard Cuckoos I've never been to the prairies (in this lifetime in any case), but this gave me a good sense of the scary landlocked mindset I imagined the place had in the early '60s (if not still... hello, Preston?). A one-man show written/acted by Patrick Goddard (directed by Strange Fish's Terry Allard). Their spot was well put together--dense, intense, substantial. 3. Old Enough to Drink The Organ Grinders have been grinding out the quirky ditties for some time now and are clearly on top of their game (I don't know if it's Monopoly or Boggle, but they are on top of it). As you may know, they earned a spot in the, um, "Montreal Show"as part of the comedy fest. 4. Danespotting It's practically a recipe for Fringe success now: take one Shakespearean classic, add one hip pop-culture hit, mix until well blended. Add trained thespians (in this case of the NTS brand). Rehearse. Rewrite. Rehearse. Rewrite. Serve to appreciative crowds. Recite sonnets to one another on your way to collecting hefty box-office returns and generous critical praise. Bow.
6. Normal A dance and music piece with Ms. Gerry Gradauer, notable performance artist and choreographer. This is an X-Files-inspired work with music from Pest 5000's and Starbean's Jon Ansencio. Seeing Gradauer dancing in her aviatrix-like costume, I couldn't help but be reminded of Amelia Earheart... 7. Sometimes When I Dream This musical fable from Kahnawake was not previewed in the Fringe-for-all, but with John Saylor (American Academy of Dramatic Arts/McGill grad) at the helm, intuition tells me that this will be an entertaining show. 8. La Grande Oeuvre du Capitaine Horribifabulo Bien, alors! The two representatives of this show's troupe of eight didn't skip many classes of their theatre program at Collège Lionel-Groulx. Lessons well learned. Yeah, it is in French, but if any language barriers are there, they quickly evaporate as the actors share their comedic expertise. They got hearty laughs all around, re-energizing the long night's proceedings. This is the longest show in the festival (over two hours with an intermission). Allo, franco, or anglo--go, humour translates very well in this instance. 9. The Nude! Fortunately (or unfortunately) we were not subjected to the Free Fall Iguanas attempting to compete for Shakti's slice of the audience pie. They don't dance. And they did remain fully clothed (at least during their excerpt). But they seem quite capable of making easy work of stripping the audience of any inhibitions they might have. They should wise up though and put Karen Taylor front and centre in more scenes. Or all of them. Aren't there any erotic home-shopping lines for women??! 10. The Wait Stylized and minimalistic, with a taped voiceover that was only somewhat overbearing. Nonetheless, the combined talents of playwright e m Beloff, Eda Holmes and actress and pottery aficionado Joan Gottman inspire much confidence in this production. The Vilna Players describe their company as being "a contemporary Jewish Theatre." Be sure to send Brando complementary tickets when he's in town. Edward Fuller is a performance poet, actor and singer who has appeared in three Montreal Fringe Fests. He recently won the final spot on the Montreal Vox Hunt poetry slam team, which is planning to go to Connecticut in August for the eighth annual poetry Slam Championship. Alison Darcy 1. Art Yet again, another Rick "Man of a Million Voices" Miller special. Tons of voices, including The Simpsons doing Les Misérables. If you missed MacHomer last year, make sure you catch this one. It really is quite a sight to see.
3. Immaculate Misconceptions One of the lovely surprise doors of the evening. I didn't realize until after she had finished that this young woman full of energy, wild fascinations and beautiful speech was Catherine Kidd. She seems to have developed a character that is distinctly separate from her own, although retaining the same engaging qualities that I've enjoyed before in her solo poetry performances. There are obviously some very talented writers involved. 4. See Bob Run I already love Daniel MacIvor's scripts. Driven and skewed, Julie Tamiko Manning is a total joy to watch, and there is clearly some high quality intensive work here. A one-woman show full of engaging storytelling and travelling philosophies. 5. Danespotting I guess I am interested in the parallells between Hamlet and the world of Scottish junkies. Another surprise. I also have faith in the talents of this writer/director team. 6. The Baumgard Cuckoos appeals to something odd in me. It is a quick, witty and high-strung one-man show. I'm not sure if it is the empathetic pull of the manic character or an unexplainably genuine desire on my part to see the show succeed, but something reached out and grabbed my attention. 7. MöcShplat has been teasing me with snippets of their show for months now. It's about time they are seen in full glory gore.
9. Bone Cold is a one-man show that has a quality missing in a lot of work these days--honest innocence. Actor/ writer Jonathan Sprung is purely as he seems and that is what will draw me into this show. Simple enough. 10. Play is a look at a play from within the play itself. I'm curious to see how the audiences will react and I have a feeling that every night will be a new play. Alison Darcy is a National Theatre School grad who performed in the 1994 and 1996 Fringes. She has just completed Puppets and co-created a Mea Culpa Collective Cabaret. She is currently working on her own documentary, Philosophies on Dreaming. |
5. Art Rick Miller returns with his usual incredible vocal impressions of everyone from Tom Waits to Krusty the Clown. I might have liked it even more if he had been more prepared--presumably he'll remember his lines when the Fringe starts. Shouldn't matter, though: he always has the crowd in the palm of his hand.
5. ManaMana A frothy, saucy and fun time with two gals rapping, singing and joshing around about their internal and external journeys, in a witty, incisive, lighthearted way. Mary Harvey (transformed anew), who impressed in '95's All Home, Bed & Church, leads the way, backed by Billie Markus. Original, genuine.
2. babaloo&ganoosh Instant smile material. I wanted to get up and play too.
8. Normal seems to be everything but. From what I could tell, this a multi-media-movement-based piece of work. Highly imaginative and stylistically intriguing. They passed me a fortune cookie that was eerily accurate.