Thursday, April 16, 2009

Fringe Prep

While the Ottawa Fringe Festival does not start until June, I'm already getting my preparations underway. My plans are thus:
  1. Do research, pinpoint interesting shows given the companies behind them (as in, be on the lookout for shows by Winnipeg Fringe faves like Randy Rutherford, TJ Dawe, and Keir Cutler).
  2. Amass an army, with the aim of sending out cells to investigate different shows (naturally, with myself among them). Doing this would accomplish two goals: Maximize the number of shows to see and recommend (or warn against), and dramatically increase Fringe awareness and participation in Ottawa.
  3. Uncover the Ottawa Fringe culture, which is a sadly inconspicuous and unsupported group of people (compared to Winnipeg), and expand my network of co-conspirators.

So, in honour of these plans coming to fruition, allow me to share a clip from one of my favourite shows from last year.

This is a music video from Die Roten Punkte, a show about a (fictional) German brother and sister rock band who play a faux-rock-concert (but with real music!). There is a plot about their childhood, etc, that is revealed during their interactions onstage and with the audience. It was hysterically funny, especially when Dave got drawn into the show.

Astrid: "Hey you! You with the stubble! Ya, you're pretty cute! Let me sing you a song..."

...which basically was a rock version of a drum solo to an orgasm, while the brother glares daggers at my husband. I laughed so much, I hurt afterwards.

Anyhow, enjoy their biggest single, "Ich bin nicht die roboten (I am not a robot), I am a lion!"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now that the Winnipeg Fringe is on the horizon, and I, too, have to get my preparations underway, do you have any recommendations to help me out...?


Eddy.

Karla said...

Lessee... Keir Cutler's show "Is Shakespeare Dead?" was good (not fantastic, like last year's "Teaching the Fringe", but good), but I didn't see it on the Winnipeg program.

There's a few I didn't see in Ottawa that I recognized on the Ottawa program -- check out the Ottawa Fringe website to see how the reviews were.

Other than that, Randy Rutherford and Jem Rolls are always sure bets. (Though TJ Dawe is taking this year off, sadly.) :-(