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Drama Club: There Ain’t No Party Like a Fringe Club Party
Each week, Drama Club looks at Toronto’s theatre scene and tells you which shows are worth checking out.
The Fringe Lottery Party at The Tranzac: the Toronto theatre community’s most anxious evening. Photo by Jona Stuart.
It’s a cold Tuesday night, and most folks could be forgiven for deciding to stay inside and catch up on their Battlestar. But the main hall at the Tranzac is absolutely packed. It isn’t very long until chairs run out, and the people standing around the edges of the room outnumber the people in seats by about two to one. And everyone in the room clutches a small square of paper, invariably asking their neighbour that perennial question, “what number is your company?” All this can mean only one thing: the Fringe Lottery Party. Though spirits in the room are high, and while alcohol is most definitely being purchased, the word “party” is something of a misnomer. For our city’s independent theatre companies, tonight is one of the most anxious nights of the year. And for every person who gets their special number called, meaning a show for their company in this summer’s Fringe festival, there are many more who will be going home (probably by way of the bar) with empty hands and heavy hearts.
After the fold, we dish more about the Fringe Lottery Party, plus more theatre news and reviews!
The last category of the evening to be drawn is always the Ontario 60 minutes; it’s the category with the most slots available, the most applications, and generally, the most company representatives present at the party. But it’s far from being the only announcement of the night. It starts with the winner of the annual New Play Contest, who is awarded a coveted Fringe spot free of charge (and $1,250 to buy something frilly). This year, top honours went to previous winner T. Berto for his play A Singularity of Being, with runner-up prizes going to Victoria Goring’s If and Rafi Aaron’s Mandelshtam. After that announcement, the Fringe staff has to draw numbers to fill up the slot available for the USA 90 minutes, the USA 60 minutes, the International 90 minutes, the International 60 minutes, the National 90 minutes, the National 60 minutes, the Fringe Kids!, the Dance National/International, the Dance Ontario, the Ontario 90 minutes and the respective wait-lists for each of those categories before the subject of the Ontario 60 can even be broached. (For a complete list of lottery winners and wait-listers, you may consult this PDF, courtesy of the Fringe’s website.)
It’s always interesting to take note of how great a distance companies are willing to travel just to be a part of our fair city’s Fringe. On a national level, companies from Nova Scotia, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and (obviously) Ontario have all been offered spots. Our friends south of the border will be represented by companies from Oakland, California, Plymouth, Minnesota, New York City, and Portland, Oregon. As for the overseas contingent, spots have been offered to companies from Manchester, Berlin, and Salmiya, Kuwait.
Because only the names of the winning theatre companies are announced at the lottery, we can’t tell you yet what shows are coming up this summer, or who, specifically, will be involved in them. But what the Fringe Lottery Party does provide is an excellent chance to hear an awful lot of silly theatre company names. Our favourites this year include: Blacklist Committee for Unsafe Theatre (ironically a mere two spots ahead of By the Book Productions on the National 90 Minute Wait-List), Beefy Geek Productions, The Dancing Cockbrothers, Cabbage Under Heavy Fire, Bulletproof/Sentimental Hygiene Theatre, Atomic Johnson Productions, and finally, Up Your Nose and In Your Toes Productions.
Congratulations to the winning companies! And, for the rest, whether your company is languishing in last place on a wait-list, or simply wasn’t called at all, do not despair. SummerWorks applications are due this Sunday. Get cracking!
On Stage This Week
Tarragon’s remount of Hannah Moscovitch’s East of Berlin has been selling like crazy. This fabulous play about a young man coming to grips with his Nazi heritage in the years after the Second World War has twice added new shows to its run, but it must close on February 8. If you’ve got any ideas about grabbing a couple of tickets to one of the few non-sold-out performances, get on it quick!
Lady-loving Nightwood Theatre’s Groundswell Festival continues until January 31 at the Berkeley Street Theatre. The festival, which presents staged readings of plays written by women, is a cool way to catch the work of up-and-coming writers. Past playwrights for the event include Morwyn Brebner, Djanet Sears, Claudia Dey and Anne-Marie MacDonald.
Lady in the Red Dress is a new production by fu-GEN opening tomorrow night at the Young Centre. The play, which runs until February 21, is a self-described Chinese-Canadian noir that promises to blend the aesthetics of Murakami and Frank Miller.
The Stranger, Praxis Theatre’s version of the Camus classic, plays at the Theatre Centre until February 8.
Them & Us continues at Passe Muraille. The new show written by Tracy Dawson and directed by Ruth Madoc-Jones is a series of vignettes about the difficulties of male-female relationships and features Michael Healey and Sarah Dodd among its cast members. Some vignettes are less successful than others, and there’s an indulgent sketch comedy vibe to the whole thing that betrays Dawson’s Second City roots. Still, there are also some great comedic moments and even the occasional insight. It plays until January 31.
Ubuntu (The Capetown Project) opens tonight at Tarragon. This collective creation is a collaboration between South African and Canadian artists, and features Holly Lewis and Michelle Monteith. Runs until March 1.
You Fancy Yourself is a new solo show written and performed by the multi-talented Maja Ardal and directed by Mary Francis Moore. It plays at Passe Muraille until February 14.