Quelle chance!

>> Tintin is alive and well and living in Montreal

by AMY BARRATT

Toques off to Theatre 1774 for actually delivering a November to remember.

Over the past month, the nine-year-old company presented a series of nine short plays at the Infinite Space on St-Laurent. I wish I'd been able to see them all, because the ones I did see were a blast. The series concluded last weekend with two revived Fringe hits: Birthmarks, by Alexandria Haber, and William R. Young's Tintin Untold.

I'm not going to go into raptures about Birthmarks because, by the time you read this, it'll no longer be running. But to read what you've missed, you can always pick up a copy of Going it Alone (NuAge), a collection of monologues coming out soon. Here's hoping, however, that this funny and heartbreaking one-act, directed by Haber and performed by Emma Campbell, surfaces on stage again before too long.

The good news is that Tintin can still be caught this weekend when it moves to Isart for two performances. Even if, like me, you don't know much about the globetrotting cartoon boy reporter, there's plenty to enjoy in this one-man show which, as the title suggests, fills the blanks of Tintin's personal life, so disgracefully overlooked by his Belgian creator Hergé.

The play begins in 1936 Berlin, where nothing--not even Aimée, the beautiful Parisian who captures Tintin's heart--is what it appears to be. Over the next hour, the action hurtles forward over almost four decades, though Tintin, being a cartoon character, never gets any older. After a very narrow and hilariously implausible escape from Hitler's Germany, Tintin, aided by his mentor, the Captain, and his faithful dog, Milou, dithers around, waiting for his next mission. As he explains, the upcoming decades present no shortage of international conflicts to pique his journalistic interest, but Tintin is holding out for something "not too violent." His trenchcoat and knee britches are not for the jungles of Vietnam.

A dream-like sexual encounter with another man, which takes place on the moon, suggests to Tintin that, "I could have everything I wanted: love and adventure." But once back on earth, he falls into a party life style that supplies little of either. Finally, the perfect low-grade conflict presents itself: Tintin sets out for Quebec in 1970.

I got a bit uncomfortable when it seemed that Young was equating Quebec nationalism with Nazism, but ultimately Pierre Trudeau's federalists didn't come off looking squeaky-clean either. And anyway, it's just a comic strip, right?

I didn't mind that in spite of the goofy haircut--shaved close except for the trademark jaunty tuft in front (what some people will do for their art!)--Young didn't really resemble the cartoon hero. His slightly high voice and ingenuous delivery seemed perfect. Unfortunately, Young tore through his lines as if he couldn't wait to get to the end.

The play has been revised since its Fringe debut to include more French, and is now being touted as a bilingual show. Which it is to say to about the same extent that Canada is a bilingual country. The majority of the play is still in English, and if I missed a lot due to the rapid-fire delivery, I can only imagine what a francophone spectator would have made of it. I'm probably not one to talk, but even I could tell that Young's French accent was more Torontonian than either Belgian or Québécois, and he seemed to be having some real difficulty getting the words out in the longer passages.

Young is a terrific writer and Tintin Untold is definitely worth seeing. I would suggest, however, that the playwright has probably taken the character as far as he can, and that for the next production, he should consider entrusting it to another actor.

At Isart, 263 St-Antoine W., Dec. 6 & 7, 8pm.Doors open at 7:30.

Not feeling in the holiday spirit yet? Try Imago Theatre's one-man musical version of A Christmas Carol. All of Dickens' 30-odd characters are brought to life by Ron Spurles at Geordie Space until Dec. 14.

Speaking of Scrooge: Situation Critical, a "nasty, caustic, scathing, vicious, corrosive, bitingly bitter... satirical comedy" by former Ottawa Citizen theatre critic Michael Groberman will be read at The Infinite Space on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. Apparently the play's cynicism is directed less toward the theatre scene than the newspaper biz, and especially critics. I'll be the one squirming in my seat.

Mump and Smoot are on the disabled list. At least Mump is, or is it Smoot? Due to a clowning-related injury, the duo slated to kick off Centaur's Walk on the Wild Side series next week have had to postpone. Appearing in their place Dec. 10 to 14 will be another clown-based, Fringe-type show, Mamakin, created by Stephanie Moore and performed by Moore and Derek Carkner. Mamakin is the larger-than-life story of Samantha and her umbilical connection to her omnipresent Mama. The show is described as "interactive."