by AMY BARRATT

Usually at this time, I like to boldly proclaim the year that is ending as The Year of Something. I would like to dub 2003 The Year of Burlesque, but that title is problematic on two counts. Firstly, what's known as the "new burlesque" has been around for several years in a number of North American cities, and so the fact that it took till this year for it to reach Montreal is no great claim to fame. Secondly, the burlesque that we did see wasn't even homegrown - it was imported from Vancouver (Fluffgirl Revue) or Toronto (the Scandelles).

Still, 2003 was the year that the new burlesque entered our collective consciousness. Here's predicting that 2004 is the year it truly takes root in our city and we begin to see a Montreal style of burlesque emerge. Travesty Theatre is an outfit to watch, with its Dead Dolls Cabaret, said to "regurgitate the spirit of burlesque." And the monthly Kiss My Cabaret at Sala Rossa - though already a huge success - just cries out for a little fun with falsies. The gauntlet has been thrown down, Montreal.

Comings, goings and cash

Meanwhile, there have been a number of changes and memorable events on the English theatre front this year.

• Saidye Bronfman theatre artistic director Bryna Wasserman teamed up with Gravy Bath Productions to inaugurate the Saidye "B" Off-Centre. The black-box space created by closing off the stage area from the house was used for three successful productions this year.

• The Nouveau théâtre anglais was born, and produced probably the most controversial show of the year, Thomas Morison's Still Once, at Theatre La Chapelle. This critic, with a few reservations, liked it. A review in another paper was so negative that it almost crossed back over into positive. If I were the NTA, I would use that review to promote their next show, assuming they have the chutzpah to produce another one.

• Village Theatre West in Hudson continued to produce shows and invite visiting productions despite the resignation of founder Heather Markgraf-Lowe due to health concerns. The announcement of a new artistic director for the summer theatre that now operates year-round was expected in late October, but we're still waiting.

• The Piggery, which lays claim to being Quebec's oldest English-language theatre (it's the same age as me - does that mean I should describe myself as "venerable"?), may have finally bitten the dust. After naming a new artistic director and heralding "a new future" for the Piggery in September, the theatre's directors suddenly went silent. It's no news that the North Hatley playhouse is seriously in debt, but this time they may not be able to pull it out of the fire.

• After a pretty well-received collective creation, one small step sideways, three-year-old Soulfishing Theatre relocated to Vancouver with founder Mindy Parfitt. It will be missed.

• Jason Whiting left his post as Hour's theatre critic to return to actually making theatre.

• Mambo Italiano became a movie and Steve Galluccio laughed all the way to the bank at his raggedy-ass critics.

Theatre Index 2003

Number of hip hop musicals about Job performed by Jerome Saibil and Eli Batalion: 2

Number of companies at the 2003 Fringe: 81

Number more than there were at the 2002 Fringe: 20

Number of times Gravy Bath Productions was mentioned in this column: 4,000

Approximate length (in minutes) of Temenos' controversial Crave: 60

Approximate length (in minutes) of Robert Lepage's La Trilogie des Dragons at the FTA: 360

Number of Heddas in the Saidye's Hedda Gabler: 2

Number of weeks the Mirror's theatre critic took off for maternity leave: 8

As of Dec. 23, number of days left before infinitheatre gets turfed out of its third-floor digs on St-Laurent: 9

Number of musicals produced in the last month by theatre school / amateur company Purple Dragon-42nd Street: 3