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Wednesday July 3rd, 2002

By JON KAPLAN

Don't even bother settling in front of that air conditioning with a cool drink.

Just forget the weather and throw yourself in the theatre pool that's the 14th annual Fringe of Toronto Festival, which opens tonight (Wednesday, July 3).

EARLIER IS BETTER

One seemingly small but key change is that the festival starts a day earlier than usual - on a Wednesday rather than a Thursday. It means that audiences can build up their tolerance to a four-, six- or even eight-show day gradually. But in practical terms, it means the first two days' programs start after most people's workday. A result? Audience numbers can be higher for the first few days. Adding the Wednesday time slots means taking them from the first Friday's early-afternoon slots, when attendance was lower than for the evening shows.

BIGGER, TOO

This year, there are more shows than ever before - 121 companies from Toronto, Canada and around the world are taking part. That's over 850 shows throughout the Annex, the several U of T venues and, further south, Factory Theatre's two stages. And don't forget the BYOV venues, for companies who want to work in spaces that aren't traditional theatres.

VENUE VARIETY

This year's BYOV groups have burgeoned to 15, and they're using some established off-site spaces like Clinton's Tavern (The Country Gentlemen's A Cowboy Diary and the Shehori Brothers' Radcliffe & Minotauk Falls), the Royal St. George's College (Last Trump's Revelation and Burning Cities' Sabotage III) and the Annex Theatre (Spark Productions' Romeo/Juliet Remixed). The last hasn't been a Fringe site - or a public theatre - for several years.

There are some new locales as well, including the recently opened Poor Alex Cabaret Theatre (above the better-known Poor Alex) that houses three shows - Anonomous, by Toronto group A.W.S., and pieces by two visiting Edmonton troupes, Ribbit Productions (Be A Man) and nuf/fun (The Healer And The Hypochondriac). Hope they've set up the stage to avoid the space's architectural problems. When I was there to see an environmental show last month, I had to keep peering around a support pillar that sat in the middle of the playing area.

The venue du choix this year is the Victory Café, with four companies - Albuquerque's Tricklock (Dandelion Clockwork), local group Backfire (O For A Muse Of Fire) and two returning British groups, Hoopal (Gibberish) and Quick Change (Thanks For The Mammaries) - laying claim to the space. A tricky spot to use well, it's an L-shaped room where the audience sits on two sides of the action. Hope that the groups can pull it off as well as The Company did last year with their version of three Vaclav Havel plays.

More unusual spaces include the Trinity College playing field, where Upstart Crow and the Hart House Drama Society play Shakespeare's World Cup; radio station CIUT, where Mighty Brave presents a 17-minute version of Shaw's The Millionairess set in a 40s radio station; and the parking lot of the Royal St. George's College, where an audience of four per show sit in a car's back seat to watch the action in the front seat for Villains and Heroes' production of Louis And Dave.

If you think there are more venues as well as more shows, you're right. You can just about count all the performing spaces on all your fingers and toes.

KIDS' CAPERS

One of those spaces, the KidsVenue, has had to change location because of the current strike. Instead of the Palmerston Library Theatre - listed in the free Fringe guide, available at Starbucks outlets - the family shows have been moved to St. Vladimir's Theatre, another former Fringe venue, at 620 Spadina.

Audience interaction, often a key part of theatre for young people, will be harder at St. Vlad's than in the Palmerston Library. At the library, the action happens at ground level, with an easy-access aisle so actors can go into the crowd and have immediate contact with youngsters in the first few rows. The standard set-up at the St. Vlad's space involves a fixed raised stage with the audience seated on chairs that rest on risers. If the Fringe keeps that layout, small children might have trouble seeing from the first few rows. But if they sit too far back, they can't easily take part in the action.

AND THEY'RE OFF!

Back again is the annual 24-Hour Playwriting Contest, as 48 writers create a play in a day. Originally 40 authors were to take part, but so many people applied that the Fringe increased the size of the pool. On Thursday (July 4), 7 pm, at the Yonge/Bloor Starbucks store (765 Yonge), the group will be given a list of four things - situations, ideas, locations, items - that must be worked into their shows, and each must turn in the finished script 24 hours later. Some of the playwrights will be working all night at Starbucks - theoretically with an IV drip of caffeine.

You're invited to watch them get started at the Starbucks... if you want to take the time off from play-going.

The winner gets a $500 prize donated by Bluma Appel and a staged reading of the script directed by Sue Miner on the final night of the 10 X 10 @ 10 cabaret, July 14.

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