2009 Frankie Winners were:
- Best English Production – by Centaur Theatre: My Pregnant Brother
- Best English Comedy (best of Fringe) – by Just for Laughs – Antoine Feval
- Best English Comedy (best of Montreal) – by Just for Laughs – Dance Animal
- Best English Text – by Chapters – Tuning Venus
- Most Innovative Local Choreography – by Studio 303 – Piss in the Pool
- The Next Stage Award for Local English Production – by MainLine Theatre –Teen Sleuth & The Freed Cyborg Choir
- Meilleure création francophone – by Cirque du Soleil – Humanfleish
- Meilleur texte en francophone – by Chapters – Vérité et conséquences
- Création francophone de l’année – by USINE C – Le P.I.Q.U.A.N.T.
- Spirit of the Fringe – by St-Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival – Prize: Just Us
- Best Performance at the 13th Hour – by The 13th Hour – Figure Skating Is For Little Girls
I was bummed I missed My Pregnant Brother. Now I will get a second chance!
The Best Comedy must have been hard to call. I guess I would say Antoine Feval was funnier, and Dance Animal was funner. I’m glad they both got rewarded. Rather a bummer that Uncalled For didn’t make it in, but on the other hand, they are already participating in JFL’s ZooFest, so maybe that had something to do with it?
Congrats to Tuning Venus–Off-Venue A represent! But man, there is a big difference in prize money between this award ($50) and others (up to $1000). It’s like, great show, here’s some money for you to go print your manuscript (in black & white).
Figure Skating is For Little Girls KILLED the 13th Hour on Saturday. No doubt that deserved to win the 13th Hour Award.
I caught Terminal today, a dark comedy about a guy who wants to get himself killed by a hooker. Story of my life!
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The Red Bastard is pretty freakin’ creepy. This was my introduction to bouffon, and yes, Red Bastard is mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for buffon.
While the show featured a lot of physical comedy and political satire, above all Red Bastard intimidates the audience, invades their personal space, subjects them to gross and unpleasant challenges, and puts everyone on notice that they might be next. Some will find this absolutely thrilling, and others squirm-inducing. Your call!
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Antoine Feval is a one-man play. Chris Gibbs, the actor, is charming and very funny. The show is worth seeing just for the constant tangents on which he goes off: reacting to peculiar audience laughter, audience toilet trips, late arrivals, early departures. I have been lucky to see many good shows at the Fringe, and this is one of my favourites.
Highly recommended!
“We Call This Comedy” is a really fun show that had me laughing out loud. The material and delivery seemed fresh and innocent, much like the way I approached the free samosa at the end of the show (my first time). While offering food at your show may seem like a cheap ploy, I can say with certainty that I will be heartily disappointed the next time I go to a comedy show and am not sent home with a delicious pastry filled with magic. It was truly, truly delicious.
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This show is lovely. It is modest and short (just 45 minutes) and looks at the theme of relationships and communication in a unique way. Cute little touches like the actors painting pictures of the scenes during the show, innovative staging, and lascivious use of a sock puppet all make for a good time. Plus, 2 of the actors have awesome accents.
Sorry…I Was Going to Turn it into Something Beautiful
Dance Animal is a big-time feel-good show. I laughed out loud; I don’t do that much. I was impressed that all the monologues were good, not just those crafted by the comedians in the group. The stories, the dances, it was all good and all fun. No single dancer dominated the show. Marc Rowland’s shoulders and biceps look really big when he wears a leotard.
Very Recommended!
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The one-man powerpoint presentation has become a fixture on the Fringe circuit. This show features Derick Lengwenus, a very committed performer in a role and script that has good moments, but overall just doesn’t have that much meat to it. Unlike his last show, Press Conference with George Bush, where he was able to improvise marvelous answers to audience questions by drawing from a wealth of knowledge on his subject, the give-and-take on the topic of zombies in this show was less meaningful. Still, a nice way to spend 45 minutes.
Dracula and his sidekick Renfield steal the show in Dracula in a Time of Climate Change, a comedic play that skewers the vampire genre along with environmentalism, veganism and many other stuff white people like. It is playful and unpretentious, but clocks in at 90 minutes which is about 30 minutes too long. Music & multimedia add nice depth to a show that, thanks to Dracula’s dry wit and unfaltering accent and Renfield’s mugging and physical comedy, is funny and enjoyable. Much involving the humans and the story arc surrounding them could be cut.
Jonno Katz returns to the Montreal Fringe with The Accident, a one-man show which is at times funny, charming and intense. Katz slips in and out of dance and dialogue, weaving the very interesting tale of two brothers with very different personalities. The story is engrossing and Katz’ movements hypnotic. The comedy comes at all the right times.
At one point, there is an intense scene with 3 people in the room. Katz switches between 2 of the characters, back and forth, back and forth, with all the tension being generated by the third person’s unrevealed reaction. It was quite cool.
Spoiler alert: Had Katz heard about this, I wonder? Life imitates art, or vice versa?
Recommended!
Yesterday, both Sean and myself performed in the Fringe’s Improv Jam in the beer tent. This was a bilingual show with improvisers from Uncalled For, Just Us and Les Néos. Overall, I’d say it was a success, particularly since most of us had never improvised in anything other language than our mother tongues.
The highlights from the series of non-related scenes would have to be the haunted forest that Sean had to escape from by singing a French ballad with Dan from Uncalled For, lifeguard training that only taught how to give mouth to mouth, a zoo with some very randy monkeys, and about 5 or 6 scenes about Quebec life that involved pot, potatoes and the usual colloquialisms. Nothing says Quebec like a rude fry vendor swearing at you before the SQ arrests and molests you. 
It’s the Fringe, and you have 30 minutes to eat between shows. Where do you grab a fast bite? Refer to this map, created specially for our out-of-town and out-of-Plateau readers, for ideas on quick & cheap eats around the Fringe Festival site. Bon appétit!
View Montreal Fringe – Quick & Cheap Food in a larger map
Fringe | b.j.swank | 
June 22, 2009 11:35 pm | 
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