Montréal Fringe Festival turns 30
The St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival kicks off summer in Montréal with its 30th anniversary pandemic-friendly hybrid festival of in-person live shows and on-demand performances streaming on the new FringeTV web channel.
The mighty Fringe!
One of the city’s most popular festivals, which has launched the successful careers of many beloved actors and playwrights such as Johanna Nutter and Steve Galluccio, the St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival bounces back for its 30th anniversary edition after the festival was scratched last year because of the pandemic.
Continuing COVID restrictions mean there is no Fringe Park or beer tent this year, and the festival’s Mado’s Drag Race marquee event will return in 2022.
But there is still plenty to see and do: this year’s pandemic-friendly hybrid festival presents live shows at five venues – featuring 154 performances by 30 local theatre companies – and on-demand performances streaming on their new FringeTV web channel.
Says Fringe Executive & Artistic Director Amy Blackmore, “The Fringe will feel a little different this year, but with our radical hospitality I can guarantee that Fringers can once again expect the unexpected!”
In-person shows kick off June 10 while on-demand performances begin streaming on June 1.
The Fringebuzz Lab
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Fringe launches its eight-episode Fringebuzz Lab retrospective podcast (four in French, four in English) featuring a who’s who from local Fringe history, such as Montréal legend Francine Grimaldi, Geordie Theatre (and soon to be Tarragon Theatre) artistic director Mike Payette (who used to be a Fringe volunteer), Rick Miller, Johanna Nutter, Montréal drag icon Mado Lamotte and festival founders Kris and Nick Morra.
“The Fringe is the democratization of theatre in the arts,” says Nick Morra. “It’s a direct connection between the artist and the audience. There’s no curation, there’s no jury – that’s very important with the Fringe. It has to be accessible to anyone and everyone, and that’s its beauty.”
Episodes of the Fringebuzz Lab podcast are released weekly on Tuesdays (in French) and Thursdays (in English), and are available on iTunes and Spotify.
Show of shows
Some festival highlights at this year’s Fringe include GlenMary KateMoss (June 11-19, La Chapelle), “a queer genderbent nipple twist” of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross; Knife Fight X (June 12-20, Petit Campus) by comic Walter J. Lyng; Blxck Cxsper: No Justice, No Peace (June 12-20, Petit Campus) featuring Black trans hip hop artist Blxck Cxsper; and Le Grand Docteur St-Eloy (June 10-17, Mainline Theatre) starring a real-life family.
The St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival runs to June 20. Click here for all Fringe shows.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.