The Ottawa Fringe Encore was held from Oct. 8-10 at the Arts Court Theatre, featuring two shows that sold out their premieres at the Ottawa Fringe Festival earlier this year.
The Fringe Encore began at 7 p.m. with Moonlight After Midnight, written by Martin Dockery and dramaturge by Vanessa Quesnelle, followed by I Wish My Boyfriend Had An Accent, created and performed by Emily Pearlman.
“With Fringe Encore, what we’ve done is we’ve brought back a couple of very popular shows from the past couple of years and we’re restaging them because they were big hits. We wanted to give audiences who missed a chance to see them or people who really love the show a chance to see them again,” festival director Patrick Gauthier said.
The talkbacks after the performances had Gauthier on stage with the artists, asking them questions about their piece of art and then opening the floor to members of the audience who had other questions.
The Moonlight After Midnight artists expressed their interest in creating an environment of suspense among the audience.
“We would add things here and there, walking on a line between not wanting to spoon-feed and also wanting people to have some idea [of what’s happening],” Quesnelle said.
In Gauthier’s words, “The puzzle is part of the appeal. It’s not like a passive piece of art that you can just let wave over you—you have to be engaged the whole time.”
Pearlman, who performed pregnant in Boyfriend, shared the growth of her piece.
“I was battling with some questions as a human and I wrote a ton of text about the question of acknowledging the difference in people,” Pearlman said.
As a member of the audience asked her where she knew to draw the line in her script writing in terms of being too heavy-handed, Pearlman said, “I know that it is material that can be triggers for people, and I tested the material on different people and asked for feedback. It’s also thinking of, for jokes, what is the butt of the joke? As long as I am the butt of the joke, I think we’re all okay.”
The long applauses from the audience expressed satisfaction and appreciation for the encore shows that night.
Ottawa’s Fringe Festival showcases new talent every year, and the factor of chance in who performs at the festival ensures that any artist could make the bill.
“Fringe is unique because during the festival itself it’s programmed by a lottery, so experience is not a factor. So Keanu Reeves has the same chance as someone who has no experience as getting into The Fringe,” director Patrick Gauthier said.
Fringe is a great way for budding artists to get a kick-start in their careers with a higher chance of gaining some profit.
“The Fringe artists get 100 per cent of the box office,” Gauthier explained. “Unlike a lot of festivals or a lot of theatre—where artists are paid a certain amount—here every dollar you spend on a ticket goes back to the artist.”
The theatre scene is growing in Ottawa, especially among the younger demographic, who is the target audience of the Fringe Festival.
“Ottawa is tricky because people often see it as a smaller scene, but it’s pretty dynamic and its evolving,” Gauthier said. “For the past 10 years or so, it has been growing and I think the Fringe is a good example of that. Our festivals are getting bigger, and the theatre scene is getting bigger.”
