One of the best shows of last year’s London Fringe Festival is being remounted in Toronto next month, and one of the best of the Montreal Fringe is coming to London soon after.
The Toronto play is Chaotica. It’s written and performed by Christel Bartelse, who I had the opportunity to interview (along with her stage manager Colleen O’Reilly) for Theatre in London last August. Christel’s promo describes it well: the madcap adventures of Alice, a stressed-out artist caught in a nightmarish board game that transforms her into different versions of who she thinks she wants to be.
Also on the bill is a play I haven’t seen, Lionheart, written and performed by Diana Kolpak, who directed Chaotica. Sounds like it will be a good complement: it’s about Litty, a lion-tamer trapped in a ring where the usual rules don’t apply.
The plays are at The Theatre Centre, which is the interesting venue where I saw Evalyn Parry in Breakfast last year. Haven’t decided yet which of the five performances I’m going to (although it’s most likely to be Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon) but if anyone wants to come with I’ll be happy to drive.
Coming to London as part of this June’s Fringe festival, on the other hand, is Daniel MacIvor‘s See Bob Run, performed by Lydia Zadel. I’ve written about Lydia before, particularly for her work in The Body at the 2005 London Fringe.
The poster for the show is reminiscent of Lola rennt (aka Run Lola Run), although from what I’ve read of Bob it sounds like that’s mostly coincidental: Bob, a chatty teenager, decides to escape it all by hitch-hiking the trans-Canada highway. The only direction Bob gives to her rides is to go “East… Until you hit water. A lot of water.”
I’m really looking forward to seeing Lydia perform a MacIvor play, as she’s the one who got me interested in him in the first place; Jeff Culbert’s article a couple of years ago served to reinforce that interest, and I’ve seen all the performances of his work that I’ve been able to since, including House at last year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival and Passionfool‘s excellent production of Never Swim Alone here in town. (Coincidentally, Never Swim Alone and See Bob Run are the first two shows I’ve heard about for the 2009 Fringe.) “Canadian theatre god” indeed.
