Magazine

Montreal’s Fringe Fest can be hectic at times; there’s always so much to see, and every year, I find myself saying things like “I wish I had enough time to see this,” or “I wish I had reserved tickets. I didn’t know it would sell out.” But this year, I tried to see as many shows as possible during the final week of the festival. On the recommendation of Artistic Director Amy Blackmore, I made it my goal to see at least three productions in one day. Of course, it’s hard to remember so many details when you’re running from show-to-show (and the beers at the Fringe Park probably don’t help), so here’s some short-but-sweet reviews of the shows I managed to squeeze into.

Pat Laprade joined CJLO 1690AM for a 2-part interview on the June 7th and June 14^th editions of Main Event Radio with Ryan Rider. His latest book is entitled “Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History of Women’s Wrestling” and is now available wherever books are sold. We discussed the history of ladies wrestling from the earliest days of Billy Wolfe and Mildred Burke to Fabulous Moolah’s stranglehold on the industry in the 1960’s-1980’s to the modern day women’s wrestling revolution.

Berlin Waltz is a riveting dance across the city which faced so much controversy and hardship during the Cold War. It is a brilliant, fun story of Devon More’s bike ride along what used to be the Berlin Wall, as she discovered the history of why the wall was put up, what East and West Berlin were like for the 28 years that the city was divided, and why and how the wall fell. Her adventure came to life through her storytelling and her music in this captivating one-woman show.

Chinese Opera is an art form which I know very little about. However, like I always say about classical music, you don’t need to know a lot about something to appreciate and enjoy it. Trust me when I say that there is a lot to appreciate and enjoy about the fantastic, funny, incredibly impressive performance put on by Jing Ju Canada.