After Dark, June 7, 2011, Fringe Edition

Random Thoughts as Hardcore Fringe Approaches
Anonymity (again...), accidents, opinions in public...
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

- As you know if you have been following along on these pages, I am not fond of anonymous posting. The Fringe is a festival of anonymity when it  comes to presenting opinions. I see that in the Fringe Buzz Twitter feed, when it comes to opinions already being expressed about shows not even open; I see it beginning here on the site; I see it in the hundreds of places, notably comments-board, where people offer both positive and negative feedback. Often no names are attached. I do like, though, the passion of some of the  comments and, in some cases, the informed nature of them. This is why I put up with the anonymity. But I will say this: the same way some anonymous assholes treat people like shit, so will I feel free to treat the anonymous.

The Upstage Interview: The Manga company (Fringe 2011)

Think of it as Japanese Québecois

Upstage Host Eric Sukhu and Contributor Stephanie Breton spoke with Caroline Fortin and Eric Desjardins  about Belzébrute’s production of  MANGA presented as part of 2011 Fringe Festival. Below is an abridged version of the interview, edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo Editor-in-Chief.

 

UPSTAGE

Last year, you were on Upstage for Shavirez. Tell us about MANGA.

 

MANGA

The idea first came to us when we were brainstorming about Shavirez. We said maybe the next one could be Japanese. We were animated by this idea so we started the creation process, The real challenge was to put a comic book (called manga in Japan) on stage. Then we decided to add one more challenge – play it in Japanese!

It’s not real Japanese; mostly inspired by sounds and words but sometimes if you pay close attention, you can hear some French words, some English words. Think of it as Japanese Québecois.

Review: Neutral Hero

Photo credit: Michael Schmelling

The Hero In Maxwell

Acclaimed NYC director Richard Maxwell Brings Us This Year's Anti-Musical

David King

One by one actors appear, on a bare stage with a dozen chairs and a few musical instruments, all framed by a flat, white proscenium. One by one, each artist picks up where the other left off in telling us about a mid-west U.S. journey, tossing out redundant, small town snapshots that are about as interesting as the GPS in our car if it were to start having a conversation with us. Moving through the streets and into the suburbs, their voices take us towards a more intimate locale, a "home", if that even exists outside our heads. And in his quest to find out about his past, our hero will soon take a fall, while those around him remind him of his identity.

The Sunday Feature: Rebecca Singh

From Cheerleader to Cowgirl

Former Montrealer Rebecca Singh may have the right formula for the Montreal artist-entrepreneur in all of us: diversification

by David King

It's not often that CharPo gets to explore the lives of  "ex-pat", English-language Montreal artists who've left town to pursue their career elsewhere. But then, actress and producer Rebecca Singh has never truly left.

"I miss the people," says the Dawson grad of our island life. "I miss the humane pace, the french, the joie de vivre and the freedom. For me, it's important to work on new projects as well as the feeling that I'm making a difference. That's what drew me to Montreal from Edmonton - and also took me away from it."

Now Toronto-based, Singh has always been rather unique in her ability to generate new projects in her off-time as an actress. The Artistic Producer behind the Montreal All-Star Cheerleaders, her refuge in girl-power ensembles and Montreal choirs like Choeur Maha continues in Toronto these days, where she's managed to muster up an equally fun, silly choir devoted to cowgirls. After moving to Toronto a few years ago, Singh was fortunate to get involved in various internships at companies like Canadian Stage Company and Nightswimming, the latter of which gave her the opportunity to explore her interest in another historic ensemble: the theatre chorus.

News: Rick Miller MacHomer to be part of Stratford Fest

Rick Miller's seminal one-man-show, MacHomer (in which the actor plays all the character of Shakespeare's Macbeth using characters from The Simpsons), will be part of Stratford season, 2012.

Readers will remember that the work began its long and ongoing life as part of the Montreal Fringe Festival.

Read the Stratford Blog announcement here.

EVENT: Special fund-raising performance of JAC Tincan People heading to Edinburgh Fringe

Click to enlarge

The Processed Theatre Journey to The Fringe Blog, Part III

Journey to the 2011 Montreal Fringe
Processed Theatre – EDGES: A Song Cycle

Week 4: Fringe is Here! (Kind of …)

By Nichole Carlone and Christopher Pineda

We are Processed Theatre. Last September we produced a successful “Reefer Madness: The Musical” at Mainline Theatre, and are now preparing for the debut of our second show, blindly hoping that we can continue to produce the quality and popularity of “Reefer Madness: The Musical.” 

While the 2011 Montreal Fringe starts on May 30th with the Fringe-For-All (which rocked!), we all know that things don't really start getting funky until the beer tent opens. This year, there are more events, companies, and OFF venues than ever. Being in an OFF venue has the advantage of us getting to do as many shows as we like, with the disadvantage of providing everything ourselves (venue, tech, "staff,” volunteers, etc). We are in Venue D, which is upstairs from the MAI, and is essentially a room with a big pillar in the middle of it. 

Review: Buddha and the Rock Star (Fringe 2011)

Reviewed by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Buddha and the Rock Star is never boring. It is a fully conceived dance/theatre/film-and-lights-media piece, as ambitious a work - by Rosaruby Kagan - as I have ever seen in any Fringe. It has a cast of eight who are all as able at dancing as they are at acting. It is, in short, a polished show.

But what the work fails to polish to a sufficient luster is Kagan's  pretentious, leaden writing. While the dancing and acting soars, Kagan's text keeps things earthbound. "Am I damaging my soul for the sake of my life?" "Have I been breathing my breath for you?" However, there is enough else to fill the stage and make the heart sing. The actors, all gorgeous and fit, are insanely energetic. They all have what appears to be pretty complete training in both movement/dance and acting and that is a rare thing indeed. Kagan's work, in this respect, is efficient and imaginative as she tells the story of a young woman trying to find her true self while passing through that stage of life in which we all get a little...er...sexually silly. The eroticism is definitely there, but much of it, sadly, is on the floor too far downstage for much of the audience. But this is a quibble which could be solved by some quickie reblocking. The rest of he performance, simply, flies.

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Review: Taelstrum (Fringe 2011)

Reviewed by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
I had actually gone to the venue to see After The Storm but, as happens during the Fringe, there was a switcheroo and I found myself in this other show once again involving music man Shayne Gryn. I'm game for damn near anything in the Fringe and hoped that whatever Gryn et al. would offer would make up for the ugly space. Generally it did, though I am not a fan of story telling. David Hickey, the raconteur, has a good repertoire, though, and Gryn's accompaniment and occasional lovingly played and sung solos made the hour pass quickly and well. The duo play together at bars and pubs around the city, and elements of both their work will be part of the show I did not get to see, After the Storm.


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Review: EDGES: A Song Cycle (Fringe 2011)

Reviewed by Gaëtan L. Charlebois


Fringe success is about setting the bar at exactly the right height. Too high and you look foolish, too low and you look like amateurs. Processed Theatre, The Edges company set the bar just right in terms of music (with some key problems sometimes), dance and performance. This is a series of songs about young people dealing with - forgive me - the zeitgeist and because the four performers are fresh and talented the show is often very funny and very touching. Shayne Gryn's accompaniment is generous to the mic-less singers, and cognizant of the hall.

But the hall...

The way the director, Nichole Carlone, decided to present the show - in this hideous space with no stage lighting (indeed, under ugly fluorescents) - wrecks everything. Though intimacy with the audience seems the goal, that is precisely what goes lacking as we are always distracted by the rest of the audience, the uncomfortable chairs and the ugly hall itself. We are never completely pulled in, even when - in one heartbreaking moment, a woman sings to a leaving boyfriend "I'll be perfect" over and over again. The actual piece merits a solid four-charpie rating...but...


Show Info 
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