Even more FRINGE: BRAZIL NUTS will crack you up!

Brazil Nuts starring Susan Jeremy playing at the JFL Cabaret. Jeremy from NY returns to Montreal with another one women play, her forth. Playing multiple characters in this fast paced no holes barred gem of storytelling is Jeremy's forte. Co-written with Mary Fulham it is stacked full of laughs and physical comedy. From pooches called: Britney, Paris and Madonna to a male stripper, a Brazilian lover and what might be a little of Jeremy herself as the character Jackie, among other supporting voices, she is at the top of her game and scores another hit. Susan Jeremy won multiple awards with her production PS69 (2000), which I saw six (6) times, and Was That My 15 Minutes (1998); Mary Fulham also won awards with Devotion (2003). It would be 'nuts' if this latest piece doesn't get some well deserved recognition also. 5 cents. Go C It!

More FRINGE: AfterLife is full of life.

AfterLife at the Geordie Space; A one women performance by Candy Simmons from NYC. She interprets three women in three separate times and locations, telling their stories: The turn of the century; The 60's; And modern times. It is amazing to see how these characters are so very different in their individual goals, wants and needs and how they go about getting and achieving them. I was more partial to the first two stories and was pulled in by their humor and tragedy.
A not to be missed performance! 4 cents. Go C It!

More FRINGE: The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest at the MAI. An adaptation by Nell Corrin of the original version by Oscar Wilde. It's a watered down edited version, cut down to size with one chair as a set piece and a cast of four women playing six of the central characters. I was first under the impression that I was watching it on fast forward; it was so quick paced. A chair and four actors the well known piece of very familiar verse will disappoint purists, who will not enjoy this trick; Wilde would not be pleased this was your first introduction to his work. The most noteworthy interpretations are those of the Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism. Still worth the time if only to be reminded of how delightfull and timeless this piece of absurd theatre remains to this day. 3 cents. Go C It!

FRINGE #19 June 12 to 21, 2009. My 2 cents...

Well it Is the most wonderful time of the year again, well almost. The weather is unusually nice for the 1st weekend of the Fringe, clear skies and warm to very warm temperatures that are normally reserved for the 2nd weekend of the ten day marathon of 'take your chance theatre'.
The warmer air is in part due to a later than usual start date for the festival, and the warm temperatures are more or less equally balanced by what I've heard and seen on stage so far this weekend, nothing too HOT and nothing too COLD, but with some cooler than others. And there is the definite lack of Grand Prix in the air this season too.

PENUMBRA: Play by Katherine Dempsey; Directed by Paul Van Dyke. With: Catherine Bérubé, Michelle Boback, Howard Rosenstein, and Christopher Moore. Not perfect (yet) but most definitely a must see on your Fringe to do list, -not to be missed. Michelle Bobeck delivers a stellar performance, equaled by that given by Catherine Bérubé. This is not a typical play for a Fringe stage, 'it is a serious piece of theatre' with an equally 'serious ensemble'. It's well placed at the MAI and this helps this 'professional production' with the needed space and necessary lighting required to pull it off on such a scale. It wouldn't have worked as well in one the Fringe found spaces. My biggest complaint would be the smoking, unnecessary these days, really! And some of the lighting was lacking on the faces at times...either actors missing their mark or just a question of too dark a design. It was sold out the 1st night it opened so get your tickets ahead. I predict this production will be on a Montreal stage sooner if not later in case you do miss it in this first run. 4 cents GO C IT!

COBRA III: At the JFL studio. My 3rd experience with this regular Fringe saga. It is a guilty pleasure and impossible not to enjoy the enthousiastic ensemble cast of +/- twenty two talented members. Even the most senior members of the audience were toe tapping and laughing along. It starts with a punch and sags a bit midway, but then picks up just in time to deliver a punchy finalé. Although it doesn't rise to the level of last year's production at the JFL Cabaret, for the camp, the eye candy, choreography, elaborate costumes and set, I have to give it some extra coin. 4 cents. GO SEE IT!

FUCKING STEPHEN HARPER: One man solo performance by Rob Salerno from Toronto. Playing at MainLine, it is worth spending the 50 minutes to learn more about how our current Canadian Government in power thinks and treats the LGBTA minorities in our great land... Although this is more the style of a Queer Current Events seminar at a Junior College than a play, it does have enough of the charm of a stand up piece and is presented in a "FOR ALL", style that is interesting enough for everyone, not only 'our own kind'. 3 cents. GO C IT!

3 WAYS TO HANDLE A TELEMARKETER: Playing at the Portugesse Association. Delightful perfromances are given by most of the cast with a lot of heart. Stand outs were Calli Armstrong Jamie Del Aguila and Chris Nachaj. Although we are not accustomed to a lot of set decoration at a typical Fringe show, this production suffers from way too much; And a poor use of it as well. Less would have been much more here: simply a clip board with chairs on wheels and the hand set of the phones attached would have worked much better. The restaurant counter was way overboard too. With such a large cast it is no surprise that it was sold out the first show, so plan ahead, however once the word gets out about the text, the crowds might stop forming. The play itself, although it has a great premise, misses far too many opportunities and just isn't funny. I counted only one moderate chuckle from a few audience members on one line. Not enough to merit the punch line that we can see coming half way through the text. 2 cents.

My spys tell me that 'Un jour j'ira à Compstelle' is worth seeing, playing in French at the MAI.

Next week I'll be seeing The Importance of Being Earnest and Perverts among others.
See you on the Main... Reminder St-Laurent Blvd closed next weekend: Thursday to Sunday.

Death and the Maiden

Altera Vitae's third production at MainLine Theatre is Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman. Produced with a lot of heart the selection of this play is a great vehicle for the company artistic director Carolyn Fe Trinidad in the lead role of Paulina Salas. For Carolyn this play is deeply personal, “I've chosen to do this play to bring out the silent scream in everybody.” and this does come across on stage in her performance. Also well cast is Sam Croitoru as Dr. Roberto Miranda who not only fits the role physically like a glove he also plays his part technically accurate to the hilt.

With each new production, the company partners itself with a valuable, charitable organization whose mandate is similar to themes in the play. This production is dedicated to RIVO an organisation working with survivors of torture and other forms of organized political violence and the ongoing effects of their ordeal.

This is my final review of the season, *pre-Fringe naturally, having covering 25 plays since the new year I was hoping to go out with a bang to cap off the season before my four months hiatus. Unfortunately this production is not the highly publicized and much anticipated bang that I was longing for. The play is of course very well written and the story is still current as a drama and very interesting with just the right amount of added humor so well suited to Carolyn Fe's talents, but this production does not measure up to the company's previous work in both direction and over all the scope of the design. I think that it is time for the company to try on a different venue for it's next production, Bent, fall 2009.

Flawed in both stage and light design from a pour stage layout and choice of set pieces (that even upstage the action) to a very tedious lighting plot that is either much darker than the actual material of the story or too far bright for the eye to endure. There are a couple of good effects that amount to a few clever tricks that are lost to the audience depending on where you sit in relation to center stage, however they're too few to outweigh all the rest of the mess because of either poor lighting or forced blocking. The pacing sags all too often making it difficult to stay focused on the unfolding story. Also the venue is heating up, as it tends to do seasonally, so the end result between not enough light and slow pacing is a few heads were spotted nodding off; this despite the only approximately 100 minutes one act with no intermission running time. Finally there is the very questionable casting selection of William Ward as Paulina’s husband Gerardo Escobar; it is perplexing. Not only is he far too young for the role, the relationship comes across at best as colleagues. Sadly there is no believable chemistry or compassion on the spousal level which is so necessary to convincingly pull the relationship together. Playing to May 24th. More info... http://www.alteravitae.com/death&themaiden/index.html

*See you on the Fringe...season preview "Fringe For All" June 1st Café Campus 7pm!

My Child - Secluded Spots - by Gleams Theatre

Secluded Spots includes two productions: My Child and Riverside Drive both currently playing at MainLine to May 10th. They are directed by Constantin Sokolov of Gleams Theatre. MY CHILD by Mike Bartlett, London UK receives it North American premier, originally produced in London in 2007. This production features a large cast of local talent including: George Bekiaris, Marc Poulin, Warona Setshwaelo, Christine Rodriguez, Jacqueline Van de Geer, and Ira Sokolava.

The one act play runs approximately 65 minutes and is about a father who finds himself being phased out of his son's life. Denied access to his son's life he goes to extraordinary means to hold on to him. Thrown into a violent world where good intentions count for very little the play offers an incisive honest look at what it means to be a good parent. The staging is immaculate and the use of space is impeccably well blocked. The artists bring us into their world and hold our attention throughout. Very challenging material that's well presented all things considered.

Where the production suffers is in the overall design. The space is not the easiest to work in especially for a production of this scale. Lighting, set and costuming are all in need of a creative eye. The ideal stage for this play would be to mount it in a space like the M.N. Hydro Quebec Studio, maintaining the minimalist perspective but with a killer lighting design, and some avant-guard costuming; -Oh, and maybe 'en francais' as a bilingual production...food for thought for the producers next endeavor. GO C IT!

With Bated Breath exhales on the Centaur stage

Those who've been anxiously waiting can now finally exhale, With Bated Breath written by Bryden MacDonald opened April 23rd @ Centaur as the final production of their 40th season. The production directed by both Bryden MacDonald and Centaur's new artistic director Roy Surette, features noteworthy performances from Neil Napier, Eloi Archambaudoin, and Felicia Shulman. The production continues to May 24. The photo is of Michael Sutherland Young and Eloi ArchamBaudoin, taken by Yanick Macdonald.

The tale is centered around a troubled young gay man from a small coastal town in Cape Breton who comes to Montreal to start a new life in the big city. Not a play 'for all', but homophobes should not be dissuaded by the provocative promotional publicity that is obviously geared to appeal and to attract a gay male audience. The play isn't really all that gay. Although it does cover a lot of issues of sexuality it doesn't focus on just that one orientation. In fact there are more tits than dicks, -Which will surprise some and disappoint others in that it does try to cover some familiar and some unfamiliar territory in a very short time in the one act of 90 minutes. If it succeeds in achieving that goal really lies in the eyes of the beholder as it is very subjective material. One may be left questioning if the play tries too hard to please and what is the actual point of it all.

By staging the play in the small space the production retains it's necessary close nit flavor and intimate setting with the audience. There are moments that are deliberately uncomfortable and an abundance of sexually provocative scenes; some that include nudity, some of which were less necessary. The set’s an issue in that the actors and their action were not properly considered in it's design; They’re not completely safe and secure in some transitions and some of the on stage action. Even the audience is at some risk in how the set spills out close to the first row and the exit. The backdrop was also constantly entangled with the actors in their exits and entrances.

It isn't an obvious choice to find such a dark play selected as the end of the season as a Centaur production, -A time when one expects to find lighter fair material, of which this play most definitely is not. However it is easy to understand the hype surrounding the production, -the staging such work on a Centaur stage that would normally be seen as an independent companies selection and mounted in a smaller space. Not since Mambo Italiano has there been full frontal male nudity and the subject matter of gay sexuality all in one production at Centaur. Of course many other lesser known and unfunded local English language companies and stages have featured similar topics and even the male nudity for years, but they don't benefit from the support that is at the 'big house'. It is fascinating and a relief to see that this type of material that is normally reserved only for the independents is now finally influencing the choices of the larger companies and finding its way to their stages.