What to look for at this year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival

Ottawa Fringe Festival opened its curtains for a new season Thursday with 54 productions from a mix of local and visiting artists. The Festival goes until June 23. Here are some shows that piqued our interest:

God is a Scottish Drag Queen

One of the highest-profile, highest-reviewed and most transparently-titled entries of this year’s festival is Mike Delamont’s one-man comedy show in which he portrays God as a frumpy drag queen with a Scottish accent. In the production, God challenges assumptions we may have had about the well-known deity, and dishes social and political critiques of both ancient times and the current day. Delamont, who is from Victoria, BC, is an accomplished comedian and has already taken this production to fringe festivals across Canada to rave reviews.

I Am the Most Unfeeling Doctor in the World

If you’ve ever wanted to see the medical world from a doctor’s perspective, now’s your chance. Melissa Yuan-Innes is a real-life doctor from the South Glengarry area as well as an acclaimed crime novelist, and is now entering the world of theatre. Based on her popular book The Most Unfeeling Doctor in the World, Yuan-Innes will recount “hilarious and heartbreaking” true stories from her work in the hospital. This production came to Fringe through their new Open Doors Mentorship program, which gives a platform to individuals from under-represented demographics who have never produced a Fringe performance.

Night Feed

Portraying a world in which various household items hauntingly come to life, the new play by accomplished playwrights Sarah Joy Bennett and Ginette Mohr takes a surrealist look at the emotions a new mother experiences. The production features both puppets and live actors. The creators have described their show as “David Cronenberg meets What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Bennett, an alumna of Canterbury High School, is an Ottawa native, as is the show’s score composer David Atkinson.

A Period Piece

There’s undoubtedly a social stigma around the topic of menstrual periods — so what better venue to address the subject than on a stage before an audience of strangers? That’s the approach taken by local comedians Lauren Welchner & Monica Bradford-Lea in their new hour-long comedic work. The two, who make up the theatre company Spicy Day, are previous performers at Fringe and are already gaining acclaim for previews of the piece. “I didn’t get all the jokes, but I knew it was really funny,” said Fringe executive director Patrick Gauthier.

The Key to Time Travel

While Fringe is historically filled with dramatic or comedic acts, this year’s festival also features two dance productions, including The Key to Time Travel by local choreographer Allison Elizabeth Burns. Describing its style as contemporary but “inspired by the groove, strength, and shapes” of breakdance, the show explores the past as we relate to it through personal memory. The show also features an original score from Montreal-based composer Tristan Henry. Burns’ work has previously appeared at Ottawa Fringe in 2017 with the contemporary dance production Do You Want to Live Forever.

More information on venues and showtimes, and the other Fringe productions can be found at ottawafringe.com.

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