Audio Visual Podcast Rundown June 17

Excited fringe patrons pore over the vast selection of theatre shows. Picture courtesy of Andrew Alexander.

Photo courtesy Andrew Alexander on flickr

For the next two weeks, the rambunctious sounds of theatre will stream out of an oddly placed white tent on Nicholas Street (next to Arts Court) with countless actors, stilt walkers, musicians and clowns parading about and thrusting flyers into the hands of passersby. It’s an annual tradition, but this year is marked by a record 57 productions that will take place at the Ottawa Fringe Festival at 12 different locations.

As Katie mentioned earlier, Fringe can be a hit-or-miss affair. This is because of the way Ottawa Fringe operates: amateurs and professionals alike can put their name in the Fringe lottery hat. The tickets may be cheap — $2 for a Fringe pin which grants access to the festival; $8-10 for each show — but because there are so many productions, it helps to be choosy. This is where Peter and I come in — we will be live-blogging from the Fringe Courtyard (more casually and aptly known as the beer tent) to recommend this year’s hottest shows.

For a taste of the festival, check out the interviews on this week’s AV podcast:

Natasha Jetté from Scratchcard Productions. Directed by Ken Godmere and co-starring Nancy Kenny, No Exit Upstage is about two roomies who show up to the same audition for the same role. Cattiness ensues. Meow!
Nick Di Gaetano from ¡Mi Casa! Theatre, who is in two Fringe shows this year: Inclement Weather and Countries Shaped Like Stars. I profiled ¡Mi Casa! in this week’s XPress.
Brad MacNeil and Dave Lindsay from Crush Improv came into the studio and stroked their facial hair for 15 minutes. Crush is doing Best in Venue!!! at Go Go’s Bar and Lounge, one of the six Bring Your Own Venue venues, which are kind of like these make-shift performance spaces that allow keen theatre folk to be part of the Fringe at atypical locations. Of course, Best in Venue!!! is the only show at Go Go’s, so no worries about false advertising… Nice one, guys.
David Hersh and Nathan Ings from The Absinthe Collective/mutatis mutandis, who are putting on …Comes Around, a restaging/sequel to last year’s sold-out What Goes Around.