Arts and Entertainment featured Theatre

REVIEW: Montreal Fringe-for-All showcases bold and promising talent

Now in its 29th year, the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival showcased its local programming at Club Soda on Monday evening. Throughout the three-hour showcase, 63 companies each had two minutes to promote their show on stage. The Fringe’s annual programming is selected entirely by lottery with no restrictions on what can be performed by festival artists.

Hosted by the talented Anton May, the charming Jessica Beauplat and with comedic moments from Fringe Associate Director Kenny Streule, this year’s Fringe-for-All showcased professional and amateur productions in both French and English. Performances featured spanned across the dance, music, comedy, theatre, clown and magic disciplines (among many other types of performance art), with a few notable previews standing out in particular.

The Fringe-for-All also took time to highlight many regular parts of the festival’s programming, including the music line-up at Fringe Park at Parc des Ameriques (Rachel/St. Laurent), the Quebec Provincial Air Guitar Championships, the annual Drag Races, Mini-Fringe (for children and families), and of course, the nightly L’Après Fringe: 13th Hour. This year, the Fringe is also working towards more eco-friendly initiatives and changes throughout the festival.

In the first half of the evening’s previews, two different clown shows were showcased. Ri’yeh City Theater Company’s Why are you afraid of Clowns?, featuring a very sarcastic, jaded and funny solo clown exploring the reasons audiences have developed a fear of clowns. Maximaliste Productions’ Is That How Clowns Keep You Up All Night?” takes a different approach to clowning through the main character, Beatrice, exploring sex-ed through the format of a late-night talk show.

Later in the evening, a rather interesting father and son project, Luigi Buffone Productions, presented “Who Killed the Video Star”. A work performed by Luigi and his son, this production portrays two co-workers who strive to find meaning in their own lives by challenging the choices of each other.

A show by a past intern of the Montreal Fringe, Claudio Tamburri’s thought-provoking show “I, Christopher” addresses the issues of finding, landing and maintaining a job when on the autistic spectrum. The main character questions his role and what he can contribute to society, and how he can catch up to a world that is speeding by him.

The evening wrapped up with several memorable previews including the fabulous House of Laureen drag troupe presenting a glamorous preview of “Mx. Queerdo MTL”. The drag troupe was followed by a stunning preview for FIMIIDO’s “Bath/Ory”, a multidisciplinary approach to story of Elizabeth Bathory, one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. Also featured in the second half, was Eva Kolarova’s beautiful work Re-imagined”. A beautiful and evocative performance, this is a must-see for dance audiences.

The St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival, under the leadership of Executive & Artistic Director Amy Blackmore, is offering a very bold, diverse and exciting line-up for this year’s festival. Audiences should note that 100% of proceeds from ticket sales go right back to the festival’s artists.

The festival runs from May 27 to June 16, with the OFF-FRINGE programming starting on May 27 and Fringe A-Z programming starting on June 6. Shows take place in 17 different venues throughout the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood. For more information and tickets, check out https://montrealfringe.ca/

 

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