Everyone knows that a Montreal summer consists of the Fringe, the Jazz Fest, Just for Laughs and the FrancoFolies. You mess with that order; you’re messing with my summer.
If you’ve never been to a Fringe performance, I’m not sure that a simple column can possibly do it justice. Boundary pushing, innovative, raw and raunchy; this is both the best and the worst of theatre-going experiences. The Fringe is a total crapshoot. You can luck out and for a measly $10 catch one of the most thought-provoking, awe-inspiring, entertaining performances of the season, or you can curse the catchy title and scintillating poster that made you waste an hour of your life that you will never get back. Like I said… a crapshoot. But the winning performances… ah, they just keep you coming back for more.
Twenty years is certainly worthy of a celebration and Communications Director Geoff Agombar informed me that this year they have 20 days of events planned for every year they’ve been around. The schedule is jam-packed with promising local and international performers ready to unleash their particular brand of crazy on an unsuspecting public.
Shows that have me salivating so far:
An Hour of Aural Pleasure with Spoken Word Artist, Dwayne Morgan. Spoken word is an art form that gets little attention in our fair city and some of my best Fringe experiences have been spoken word performances. Morgan is a multi-award winning poet with 5 books and albums to his credit, so it’s already looking good.
Boundary pushing, innovative, raw and raunchy; this is both the best and the worst of theatre-going experiences -
Blind to Happiness, written and directed by Tim C. Murphy, asks if happiness is a choice in this thinking person’s show.
In Confessions of a P.K. Pin Up preacher’s kid, Tamara Lynn Robert, delivers a sermon of a different kind.
In the Winnipeg Fringe’s Best of the Fest for 2009, Misadventures of a Massage Therapist, Jason Brasher shares his hilarious experiences as a massage therapist.
In Rant Demon, Westmount writer, thespian, longtime Fringe collaborator and ranter, Kier Cutler, overreacts to pretty much everything. The Toronto Sun called him a “marvel to watch” and who am I to disagree?
Add to that the Strip Spelling Bee (yeah, you read that right), the Roller Derby, a Summer Bike-In to Centre St-Ambroise for an outdoor screening of The Goonies, non-stop musical entertainment at Parc des Ameriques and there’s bound to be something for everyone from June 1 to June 20 at the Fringe.
For a complete and detailed schedule, just log on to www.montrealfringe.ca or take your chances and just come down and catch whatever’s playing. Like I said, it’s a crapshoot. But unlike the casino, this house wants you to win!
