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Elephantine extravaganza >> Rhythm Activism joins the circus by AMY BARRATT
The Cirque is by far the biggest project these performing crusaders have tackled to date. Organized in collaboration with over 50 community groups, this really big family shoe will feature over 25 actors, musicians, dancers, acrobats and jugglers and, they say, "over 20 amazing acts never seen before in Quebec." Like the smaller-scale housing and welfare rights cabarets that Rhythm Activism has presented all over Quebec in the past, the Cirque en Cash aims to be subversive but entertaining. The French-language extravaganza has been many months in the making. At every stage, Rhythm Activism consulted with community organizations in the neighbourhoods where the circus will be performed. As a final step, this "people's" circus with its "critical but comic perspective on the roots of poverty," incorporated some of the consultants into the show as performers. Some of the acts to be featured include: Les Grands Balais Canadiens, a group of professional dancers (and their brooms) waltzing out the woes of the domestic servant. There's a dream sequence featuring huge menacing phone and Hydro bills and an equally looming box of Kraft Dinner. The ringmaster, aka "the highest paid clown in the world," wears his clown-white and fright wig atop a business suit. It's important to note that this project received no government funding, though Nawrocki says applications were made to all three levels. Even though everyone involved is donating their time, money still had to be found for costumes, lights, sound and a thousand little expenses. Once again the community groups--though strapped for cash themselves--came through. Member groups of FRAPRU, a tenant's and welfare rights coalition, donated what they could: $50 here, $75 there. Some also went to businesses in their neighbourhoods and solicited funds for the project. Norman Nawrocki considers the circus "a work in progress" and hopes to remount it later on a larger scale in neighbourhoods across the city. Advertisements for the show depict elephants playing musical instruments. So are they really schlepping elephants in and out of local community centres? You'll have to go see Le Cirque en Cash to find out.
Tonight (Nov. 27) at the Comité Social Centre-Sud (1710 Beaudry). Wednesday (Dec. 3) at 530 du Couvent in St-Henri and Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7378 rue Lajeunesse in Villeray
Fringe in the snow Playwright Daniel MacIvor seems to be the darling of the indie theatre scene this season. Not only are MacIvor's plays tailor-made for the shoestring budgets of small companies, but he happens to be a mesmerizing storyteller to boot. First there was Imago Theatre's Never Swim Alone; then Julie Tamiko Manning reviving her Fringe success with MacIvor's See Bob Run at Theatre 1774. Now there's House, a one-man show performed by Julius Chapple and directed by Brent Krysa. House is an angry tirade performed on a bare stage; Chapple's performance makes it funny, sad and very intense. You might need to stick your head in a freezer for a while after it's over. House is playing in a double bill with Richard Hope's Traffic, directed by Jill Sweetin at Players' Theatre until the 29th. This weekend at 1774's Infinite Space, don't miss two more one-person Fringe hits, Birthmarks by Alexandria Haber and Tintin Untold by William Young. The latter, presented by Tournesol Productions, will also surface at Isart Dec. 6 and 7. Yet another Fringe revival is The Idiot Boy (I figure this synchrony can only be explained by a mass-hypnosis secretly performed in the beer tent last June: when you hear the word "flurries," you will rise up and perform your plays again). Jeremy Bouchard's tour-de-force is at the Geordie space this weekend (Nov. 28 & 29 at 8 p.m. Tickets $6). |
Norman Nawrocki wants to talk about social justice, but all the public and the media want to know is: does he really have elephants? Nawrocki and Sylvain Coté--the duo also known as Rhythm Activism--are behind Le Cirque en Cash, a "community circus cabaret" being presented free of charge in some of Montreal's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods over the next week.