Let the drama begin

>> Beer, pins, possibly naked ladies, floorboys and more fun and games at this year's Montreal Fringe Festival

by AMY BARRATT

The 11th Montreal Fringe Festival, which gets underway with a party tonight, June 14, has a tough act to follow. Last year's 10th anniversary had record attendance rates and an unusually high concentration of good shows. Until the performances begin at 6 p.m. tomorrow, there's no way of knowing if this Fringe will measure up.

What we do know is that this fest has more entries than ever before at more venues. And, with 15 francophone companies, they are within inches of achieving the long-standing goal of 25 per cent (local) French content.

The Fringe has always been first-come, first-serve--within the parameters of a quota system that aims for 25 per cent international shows, 25 per cent Canadian excluding Quebec and 25 per cent each of English and French companies from Quebec. This year, because of the sheer volume of entries that arrived within a day of sending out the call for submissions, local anglo companies were chosen a little differently. The submissions were entered in a lottery, with names drawn at random. There is still no screening process for anything that's shown at the Fringe.

Fringe Ground Zero, i.e. the beer tent, is once again situated in Parc des Amériques at the corner of Rachel and St-Laurent. In response to last year's November-like conditions, the Fringe has for the first time secured a rain venue for the outdoor shows. In the event of rain, sleet or plagues of locusts, the outdoor shows, including the closing night Frankie Awards will move to Le Grand Bayou on Rachel just west of St-Laurent. Even if the weather is fine, the party will move into the Bayou nightly at 11 p.m.

A controversial innovation this year is the introduction of the Fringe Pin. Even festival producer Jeremy Hechtman looked sheepish as he explained that, this year, every Fringer--including audience, artists, volunteers, journalists and even the head honcho himself--must shell out $2 for an official button bearing the Fringe logo. You won't be allowed to buy a ticket or get into a venue without it. No problem, you say, you're one of those Fringers who just hangs around the beer tent and never actually sees a show? You still need the pin. You will be accosted by a pin peddler at the entrance to the tent and prevented from buying beer without one. The reason for this development, which is common at many similar events throughout the world, is that one of its big sponsors--Internet company Thefunniest.com--has gone the way of many dot-coms in the past year and, well, the festival needs the revenue. It's only two bucks and by next year we'll be used to it, but for the moment it grates. Tickets for the Fringe are not being sold through the Admission network as they were last year. This, says Hechtman, is because the fest has the staff to take charge of its own ticket sales this year. You are encouraged to buy early, either at the head office at 12 Rachel E., where you can pay with cash, VISA, Mastercard or Interac, or over the phone at 849-FEST (by credit card). For procrastinators, 50 per cent of all tickets are held back until an hour before the performance, to be sold at the venue. Happy Fringing!

Who you callin' boy?

A straight guy with student loans to pay off takes a job as a cleaner in a "men only" hotel. It sounds like the set-up for a homophobic joke, but Scott Clarkson, who wrote and performs The Floorboy, assures me that he didn't get into theatre for the gay-bashing. On the other hand, in an establishment where the standard hallway garb is a white terry-cloth towel, if Clarkson claimed never to have been hit on by the clientele, we wouldn't believe him. Still, any rancour this 33-year-old Renaissance man may feel about the job he held for two years in his mid-20s is directed toward the management. They are the ones who assigned the demeaning title "floorboy" to an already demeaning job.

In the play, Clarkson explains, "This guy goes into a completely alien environment, but he starts to relate to the clientele." No, it's not a coming out play, it's just that "as a guy who doesn't go on very many dates--okay any--I could relate to the loneliness that would bring these guys in."

Clarkson has done a number of things in the decade since he graduated from Concordia's theatre department, notably playing bass in local bands such as Sofa. He's also not completely unfamiliar with the Fringe, having made appearances in 1991 and 1995. Still, this is his first time flying solo and he is most impressed by how much it's costing him: four or five hundred bucks just to get in, plus production and publicity costs.

Since working on The Floorboy for the Fringe, Clarkson says he's begun to look back fondly at his days at the establishment he gives the fictional name The Kinkora Inn. "In the jobs I've had since, there are never any interesting stories."

Quickies: more highlights

Stories of interest may not be lacking at the festival this year after all. Here are just a few to watch out for:

T.J. Dawe! T.J. Dawe! What more do I have to say? Montreal loves him, alone (Tired Clichés, Labrador) or with a friend (52 Pickup). The lanky bespectacled performer is back this year with The Slip-Knot, in which he tells three separate stories in that funny, poetic T.J. way. (Venue 7)

The press release proclaims "The Brit girls are back!" but if you look closely there has been a cast change. Sarah Quick, one of the pair who brought us the popular Thanks for the Mammaries last year, is back with The Men Commandments, but her accomplice this time is Ruth Dennison, not Letitia Thornton. The play will feature the same charming Manchester accents and the same "I'm getting older do I need a man in my life?" angst featured in several past appearances by Quick and Thornton. (Venue 2)

Matthew MacFadzean, late of the National Theatre School and currently residing in Toronto, returns to the Fringe after a couple of years with Richardthesecond. It's a multimedia black comedy adaptation of Shakespeare's play about the ineffectual Richard. The latest from one of the creators of Danespotting and Viva Versace, Richardthesecond incorporates film, computer animation and a live DJ. (Venue 4)

In Car Stories, three spectators at a time will be ushered into the backseats of real cars parked in a real parking lot. There are four stories by different writers, performed by actors in the front seats of four consecutive cars. Car Stories is presented by Optative Theatre Laboratories and "facilitated" by Donovan King. The location is the Sun Youth parking lot, but the meeting place is the beer tent. An actor will escort voyeurs to the show from there.

Other promising shows: Mingus, Mingus, Mingus: I Am Three; Welcome to the Moon (and other plays); The Show Formerly Known As; Pure Hoopal; Unsinkable; Hotdog; Con_science; This I Know.

The Floorboy is at Geordie Space (4001 Berri) June 16-24

The naked truth

This year's Fringe-For-All--the night when dozens of Fringe companies present three-minute excerpts from their shows in the hopes of enticing audiences--was long, hot and smoky. Not unlike comedienne Isabelle Gaumont (see cover photo). This righteous babe had the audience in her pocket as she took the microphone and asked the question that was on every mind in the place: "Isabelle, does the fact that you're naked on your poster mean you're going to be naked in your show?" Then she launched into a hilarious explanation of the cultural marketplace. Basically, if you want to publicize a show on a shoestring budget, put a naked girl on your poster. If you can't afford to hire a naked girl, pose for the photo yourself.

Gaumont's Élucubrations Féminines garnered critical acclaim at last year's Fringe and her new offering, Gaumontville, should be no different. Gaumont never did answer the question of whether she'd be baring it all in the show. You'll just have to go to find out (and if you're lucky, score one of the commemorative key rings she's had made up bearing the same image as the poster).

Gaumontville is at Venue 2 (4247 St-Dominique) June 16-24, in French