Montreal Fringe Festival, 2009 edition
The Montreal Fringe Fest is back in town with a hefty serving of over 75 plays/shows put up by a swarm of small, independent and semi-professional theater groups. Like every year, they invade le Parc Des Ameriques, on the corner of Rachel and St-Laurent, with a beer tent / ticket booth / postering paradise (see the video bellow). And like every year, the Fringe gives you the chance to see tons of theater plays for a very acceptable price. Consider the sad fact that a date watching a crappy movie at Scotia Cinema (the Cinema Formerly Know as Paramount) will set you back over a quarter of 100 $ bill, and that if you include popcorn and corn-starch filled Coke on top of the movie, you’ll be expected to fork over close to 35$. Now that makes the Fringe fest a much better alternative. And by bringing a date to the Fringe you’ll demonstrate your cultural and adventurous thinking, greatly increasing your chances of hitting the sack.
In retrospect, the serious truth is that, considering the amount of TV and movies people watch, we don’t go to theater nearly enough. I am aware that there are several reasons for this, mostly price, the relatively small number of plays, limited marketing and others. In my mind, the Fringe Fest is a perfect solution to some of these problems, and it’s the perfect way to get your fix of yearly theater.
So hit it.
PS: The Fringe Fest and I go a way back, in fact almost 10 years, when a bunch of friends an I volunteered at the festival with the goal of getting free beer and free shows. Our role was to guard the beer tent at night, a fun activity for teenagers that want to discover the deep secrets of Montreal’s summer nights. And a few years ago I also published a disgruntled article on the Fringe Fest because of a couple of crappy shows. But you know what, crappy can be good too, as long as it touches you in a significant way.
