1,2,3, Fringe!

>> Fearless theatre critic predicts best of the fest

by AMY BARRATT

The best news so far about this year's Fringe theatre festival--which kicks off tomorrow night (Friday, June 18)--is that it's back on the Plateau after a few years at McGill campus. This means more schlepping between venues, but it's worth it. No more sitting through performances in that parking garage known as P-Scene; this year's shows are all in real theatre and dance spaces like Geordie and Tangente.

There are a number of special events surrounding this year's Fringe, including Play in a Day, which is pretty much what it sounds like. Four playwrights (Allan Boss, Celia McBride, Joshua Lyons and Joshua Parr) will have 12 hours to write a play starting at 7 p.m. on opening night. At 7 a.m. on the 20th, directors and actors will go to work, and at 7 p.m. that night the plays will be performed on the Outdoor Stage.

Other new features this year are Après-Fringe and Take-out Fringe. The first is a series of shows beginning at 2 a.m at the Building Danse Mirror Cabaret. The second refers to two shows taking place in non-conventional settings. Une Hyène à Jeun, a Mali­France­Quebec co-production, will be performed outdoors on the McGill campus. Periostracum, by Montreal's There Theatre, is set in a bar and will be performed live at Le Swimming.

Frankly Frankie

For the second year, the Frankie Awards will be presented on closing night. Just for Laughs once again will choose the Best Comedy of the Fringe to include in their JFL Fringe Series (coming in July). Centaur Theatre again sponsors a People's Choice award for favourite production, to be determined by ballots filled out by Fringe-goers. The prize is a brief run at Centaur in the fall of '99.

Chapters Bookstore sponsors this year's Best Text Award. The winner will receive gifts from Chapters, as well as a public reading at the bookstore. Finally, the Spirit of the Fringe is awarded by the staff of the Fringe to, as Fringe boss Jeremy Hechtman put it, "the company that buys the most beer."

For the first time at any Fringe festival in Canada, tickets for all Fringe shows are available in advance at www.admission.com and all Admission outlets (though not over the phone), up until midnight the night before the performance. The day of the show, tickets can be purchased at the Info-Centaur booth in the beer tent up until one hour before show time. For that last hour, tickets (provided there are any left) will be available exclusively at the venue. For more info, call 849-FEST.

Best bets

The following are the shows I absolutely positively plan to see. But like everyone else, I'll be paying close attention to the buzz in the beer tent (located at Napoléon and St-Dominique), hoping to discover an unheralded gem or surprise hit. Of the more than 50 pieces presented this year, my theatre best bets, in no particular order are:

* Dried Flowers Three women--all played by one woman--work their way through mid-life crises in this prize-winning new play by Maryjane Cruise.

* Teaching Shakespeare--A Parody For anyone who has ever taken an English class. Writer-performer Keir Cutler has the professorial lingo down cold and creates an elaborate choreography out of front-of-the-class gesticulation.

* Josephine * Bonaparte The little guy meets his romantic Waterloo in the latest by William R. Young, author of Tintin Untold and Eden's Moon.

* love@last.com A one-woman play about adults and their toys and the little kid in all of us. (See article.)

* Call Me I saw this last month at infinitheatre. Despite its billing as a drama, it's young, it's hip, it's funny, it's sponsored by Telematch.

* Slightly Bent Rick Miller of MacHomer fame in his new "one-man multimedia extravaganza featuring over 100 characters."

* Wreck Election Feminist Dr. Seuss featuring sex, booze and religion. How much more Fringe can you get?

* SOS: Meat 'N Make Mary Good actors. Good director. Good playwright. A shoe-in to win at least one award. (See article.)

* Last Will & Teste The Free Fall Iguanas say they're done with the Fringe--after this show that is. It's a combination of new stuff and the comedy troupe's favourite bits from shows past. Sure, they can be puerile (and proud of it) but when they're hot, they're hot.

* Everybody's F***ing But Me She's got the moves, she's got the voice and she's a babe. If you like drag shows at all, catch Grae Phillips and Co. performing such classics as "Condoms Are a Girl's Best Friend." (See article.)

* Honourable Mentions: Leaf in the Mailbox * Une Hyène à Jeun * Periostracum * Scenic View * Pô-Tô-Tô Zô-Lôd * Mask On * There and Back Again: Tales From Tangoland * Please God, I Swear I'll Never Have Sex Again * Life, Liberty & a Flying Chicken.