The 15th Wildside Festival

Cutting edge theatre during winter

Fringe. Cutting edge. Two expressions that essentially mean the same thing, referring to what lies on the outskirts of what is considered mainstream, and is usually a little wilder than what is considered mainstream. The Fringe Festival delivers every summer in Montreal. It’s as much a Montreal adventure as it is a theatre adventure, as die-hard Fringers dash from one venue to the another to catch play after play. But for those who missed the Fringe, and would like to see some cutting edge theatre in the off-season, and maybe get a taste of what fringe is all about, there’s The Wildside Festival, an annual offering of independent theatre produced by emerging companies that are a little, well, edgier.

Through to January 14 The Centaur Theatre presents a handful of plays, including the Best of The Fringe Award winner, a one-woman play called Blink Blink Blink (also runner up for the Just For Laughs Festival’s Best Comedy Award). Written and performed by actor Kirsten Rasmussen, Blink is about a motivational speaker who would love to practice what she preaches, as she tours her latest self-help book, "Skin the Bunny: An Aggressive Approach to Claiming Back Your Life” across the country. Rasmussen is a comedian, part of Montreal Improv. It would be interesting to see how much her play changes, if at all, from one performance to another.

There’s also Geordie Theatre’s meditation on the aftermath of the A-bomb, Bifurcate Me, which takes place in Montreal’s own Douglas Hospital. Sounds like fairly dark material for a troupe ordinarily known for their celebrated children’s plays. But fringe-style theatre is all about branching out, and Bifurcate Me allows Geordie to show off their wilder side, pardon the pun.

Bliss, presented by Candles Are For Burning, is a dark look at celebrity: “Who is Celine Dion,” a blurb for the play asks, “What is Wal-Mart? And who is that girl kept prisoner in her room?” There’s plenty of local flavour in the festival, a bit of drama, plenty of comedy. Toss in a jazzy musical, and Keir Cutler’s send-up called Teaching Hamlet, and you’ve got an enticing line-up for the 15th edition of the Wildside Festival at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre.