by AMY BARRATT

Theatre critics can feel like Horton the Elephant sometimes, insisting that there really is life on that dust speck. We spend a lot of time contemplating this world that the average person doesn’t even know exists.

But something has been happening this season. There’s a sense in the community that the sheer volume of independent English productions we’ve been seeing might soon reach a critical mass. Suddenly, the larger public might begin to hear the faint cry, “We are here, we are here,” and English theatre might start to attract an audience.

Three openings in the last eight days have all showcased new texts by Montreal writers. Quasi-Murder, by Patrick Goddard and Jeremy Hechtman, is an adaptation of the novel Attentat by Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. Goddard seems squeamish to accept a writing credit for this piece but the project easily must have taken as much effort as writing an original play. He began by translating the entire work into English and then, with Hechtman, pared it down, pared it down some more, and simultaneously added staging and production elements.

What they’ve ended up with is a tight, 90-minute piece about the ugliest man in the world. Seated at a makeup table before a cracked mirror, Goddard begins by describing himself to us: my face looks like an ear. Elephant-Man-like, he doesn’t rely on makeup to create this hideousness, but merely suggests it by twisting his face and body.

There is a gothic feel to it, but at base Quasi-Murder is a universal tale of unrequited love. I loved the richness of Nothomb’s text combined with the sparseness of the production, which is on at the former fire station/Fringe fest venue on St-Dominique.

Electing the almighty

Up the daunting three flights of stairs to the Infinite Space waits a highly entertaining new work by Joel Fishbane (Rhapsody, First). In An Act of God, a worldwide election is being held for the position of Supreme Ruler of the Universe. There are three candidates for the job: Adam K. Adams (Scott Faulconbridge) is a doctor of theology who promises the voters that, “My religious beliefs will in no way affect my duties as God.” Daphne Summerhill (Nathalie Stechysin) is an overachiever who wants to be God so she can resurrect her dead father and do away with winter. The final candidate is the guy who currently holds the position, though for some reason he prefers to be called Irving. Scott Baichoo, an actor who can sometimes go a little over the top, is at his best in this role, finessing the physical gags one moment and tugging on our heartstrings the next.

This production has a “workshop” feel to it, and there are sections that could be tightened up in a future draft, but Fishbane has such a way with a funny line, and it’s such a great idea to begin with, that you should definitely go.

Bad habits

Ugly, by Anthony Kokx, (see review next week) is not about an ugly person but, as director Madd Harold explains, about the ugly patterns we repeat in our lives. In this first-ever production in the Saidye B space, Gravy Bath productions is experimenting with a new kind of structure that apparently eschews traditional ideas of plot. :

Quasi-Murder, at Centre des arts contemporains (4247 St-Dominique), Wed–Sat to March 1, 8pm, $10/$12, 849-3378

An Act of God, to March 2 at the Infinite Space (3964 St-Laurent), Thurs–Sat, 8pm, Sun 7pm, $12–$15, 987-1774

Ugly, Tues–Thur, 8pm, Sat 2, 7 & 9pm, Sun 2pm, until March 8 at the Saidye (5170 Côte Ste-Catherine), $10

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