Summer Theatre Mania at the Montréal Fringe Festival

Consistently one of the city’s most high-energy festivals, the St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival, June 1-21, is even more audacious and delightful this year as the indie-theatre fest celebrates its 25th anniversary. We talked to Fringe Festival Executive and Artistic Director Amy Blackmore to get the inside scoop on how to do the Fringe right.

“You can travel all over the world and go to Fringe festivals,” says Blackmore, “but what makes me continuously fall in love with the Montréal Fringe is that it’s a reflection of Montréal’s diverse culture: the Fringe is a multilingual mixed bag of independent theatre, dance, music, visual art and family activities – and it’s all super affordable and all in just 21 days.”

With several hundred performances by over 500 artists from Québec, the rest of Canada and around the world, the Fringe might seem daunting on the surface, but Blackmore asserts that it’s incredibly accessible. “The Fringe is one of the main ways the broader Montréal community connects to theatre – and one of the reasons why is that it’s easy,” she says. “There are so many different kinds of shows to pick from and they’re only 45 min. to an hour long and only about $10 each. So, if it’s a gorgeous summer day and you want to hang out on a terrasse, walk down Saint-Laurent and then go see a show, you can do it all.”

With a quarter of tickets put aside at the door of each venue, casual theatregoers can stroll by, read the poster and suddenly be watching a solo comedy show they’ll never forget, an ensemble melodrama that pulls at the heartstrings, an innovative twist on Shakespeare or a sublime contemporary dance performance.

“The nucleus of the festival is really Fringe Park, where people can buy tickets and find out about great shows,” Blackmore says. “So if you’re not sure where to start, go there, pick up a program and talk to people – the people there are very friendly and everyone wants to talk about what show they’re in or great shows they’ve seen.” On top of that, Fringe Park (at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Rachel) is also the St-Ambroise beer tent and a show venue in itself, host to music events produced by Piknic Electronik, Pop Montréal and more.

“One of my favourite things to do is just take a risk on a show,” Blackmore adds. “Before I became staff I was a patron – I’ve always liked to go to shows based on their titles, and there are some really colourful titles. Asking the volunteers at the door or in Fringe Park or Fringe After Dark parties is also a good idea – they’re very dedicated and usually know more than I do!” When the Fest is in full swing, the Fringe Twitter feed and #fringebuzz yields plenty of reviews.

“What I am really excited about this year is the abundance of activities, not only because it’s our 25th but because of the winter we had – I feel like everyone’s going to explode on stage; it’s going to be sheer madness,” says Blackmore. “Not only are we having a huge reunion party at Théâtre Fairmount but we’re bringing back the provincial Air Guitar Competition. I’m still the reigning champion from 2008,” she discloses, “but I won’t participate this year – I’ll hand the crown over to the next generation of air guitar enthusiasts.” Yes, there’s more than one way to join the wild party at the Fringe Fest.

The St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival, June 1-21, 2015