Last Call at the Fringe

Montreal Fringe Festival 2005

There is a weekend left to see some great Fringe shows in what has been, despite the humidity, heat, torrential rain, locusts, showers of frogs, and God knows what else, a very successful and well-attended festival. Here then are a few picks and a few nits of what is still playing. Consult the schedule at the Fringe site on the web for details.

Venue #1 (MAI, 3680 Jeanne Mance)

Hip-Hop 4 Dummeez "Jews in tha 'hood" Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion show off their wonderful mishmash of hip-hop culture, esoteric reference, and nerdy white boy erudition in their current production. These two are always worth seeing.

Minimum Wage: The Burgerboy Chronicles
Great buzz for this goofy musical on the joys of greasy food and low pay. "Bobby McFerrin meets the Marx Brothers", indeed.

Venue #3 (Geordie Space, 4001 Berri)

The Reefer Man
An up and coming young lawyer (played by Russell Bennett) leads a double life: filing briefs by day and tending to an illicit grow operation in his grandma's old house by night. When the world's collide... (Hey, it got a great review from Cannabis Culture magazine!) I haven't planted my audience-giveaway bag of seed yet, though.

Venue #4 (Mirror Stage, 4247 St-Dominique)

The Bionic Yahoos are Famous For a Week
High-energy sketch comedy with musical goofiness from this Montreal troupe. If you don't like one joke, don't worry—there'll be three more in the next second.

Jem Rolls' Charm Offensive
Poetry was never so fast, furious, or funny. The politics and delivery of this raging Scotsman defy indifference. You. Will. Laugh.

Venue #6 (CFCF-CTV Stage, 3997 St-Laurent)

Ariadne's Thread
A fascinating one-woman, multi-character piece from Talya Rubin about a solo trip to an enchanted Greek Isle. Rubin brings much energy and fine pacing in piece that retells myth and rural story though the lens of misfortune and recovery.

Freak Out Under the Apple Tree
Writer/director/playwright Tom X. Chao (and his lovely assistant Erin Leahy) perform a collection of stories with themes ranging from violent nuns to police psychics to where-to-eat-lunch to violent nuns. Chao's a funny, sarcastic, dry urban hipster. The show is a fine collection of weirdness that isn't getting the crowds it needs and deserves.

Venue #8 (Bain St-Michel, 5300 St-Dominique)

Moving in Reverse
Two of the best artists to ever hit the Fringe, Susan Jeremy and Mary Fulham (both Frankie Award winners), team up with brilliant results in a story about clutter, misbehaviour, and cracking wise. Sike! The fantastically talented Jeremy dissolves into the characters she creates while the story, penned by Jeremy and Fulham, moves us effortlessly along. Just fucking great.

Venue A (Théâtre Ste-Catherine)

Drinking in America
Solid reviews all around for this Calgary-based Sage Theatre production of an Eric Bogosian classic. Under Kelly Reay's direction, David Trimble works his guts out in a rapid-fire series of monologues on addiction and delusion. Shows like this are why we go to the Fringe in the first place.

Info/Tickets: Montreal Fringe

Fringe Hotline: 514-849-FEST

- Neil Brouillet

Regular Joes
Rendez-vous for contemporary theatre
Troubling the water
Assault and dramaturgy
Underwater discovery
Fringe Briefs