Going solo

>> One-man shows, one-acts and a call for submissions

by AMY BARRATT

It's every actor's dream and every actor's nightmare: the one-person show. Audiences too, are drawn to the purity of the form; it's a little like watching someone walk a tightrope or bungee jump.

MainLine Theatre, another name for the people who bring us the Fringe Festival, are banking that Montreal audiences, following the recent success of shows like PS 69 and Late Nite Catechism, are ripe for more. In collaboration with the MAI centre, they are presenting SoloFest, a mini-festival of four one-person plays, in French and English, beginning next week.

Most of the shows have been seen before in Montreal, but not necessarily by hordes of people. Labrador, for instance, T.J. Dawe's offering at the 1999 Fringe, received great buzz, but its 2 a.m. time slot prevented a lot of theatregoers from seeing it. Patrick Goddard's The May Day Impromptu has had a couple of outings in town, including at Centaur's Wild Side Fest. France's Thierry Dupré, also a Fringe alumnus, returns with his retelling of an ancient Chinese legend, Le Tigre. Finally, Theatre sans fond, which produced dArk, at the 2000 Fringe, presents Emmanuelle Prince in Angèle Morte, a piece about a young woman who discovers she doesn't have long to live.

SoloFest, Oct. 24 -Nov. 4, at the Mai; two show per night; $10-12 per show, $16-20 for two; $30-$36 for a pass.Info: call 849-FEST

The Concordia Theatre Department's first offering of the season, Pinteresque, is of interest for several reasons. First and foremost is director Kate Bligh, who proved herself as a director in this city with her production of Synge's Playboy of the Western World at Concordia two years ago. (She's since become Artistic Director of the Black Theatre Workshop and has been labouring to revitalize that venerable company.) One thing's for certain, her cast will all have believable British accents in this collection of one-act plays and sketches by Harold Pinter.

Pinteresque, Oct. 19-29 at D.B. Clarke Theatre, $5-10, 848-4742

Playwrights' Workshop Montreal (PWM) teams up with CBC radio to sponsor the "New Voices" radio drama competition. Applicants need not submit a finished script, just a proposal for a 10-minute radio play, two pages of sample dialogue and "a short letter telling us why writers are attracted to the medium [of radio]."

From those submissions, a group of writers will be invited to attend two workshops at PWM, where they will produce drafts of those proposals. Up to three of those works will then be chosen for broadcast on CBC radio. Applicants must not have had their work previously produced on CBC. The deadline is Oct. 26. Submissions should be sent to Playwrights' Workshop Montreal, P.O. Box 604, Station Place d'Armes, Montreal, H2Y 3H8, or by e-mail to info@playwrightsworkshop.org.

Having trashed their Web site last year, it behoves me to mention that Centaur Theatre has a new one and it's much better. www.centaurtheatre.com.

As of now, I can receive media releases, invitations, etc. by e-mail (stick to text, no photos please): Amytheatre@aol.com. :

Qui a peur de Virginia Woolf? to Oct. 21 at Théatre du Rideau Vert, Tues-Fri 8pm, Sat 3pm & 8pm, Sun 3pm, $17-38.50, 844-1793