Fringe Character

TJ Dawe mugging for the camera at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival.

One of the country’s best-known theatre personalities, TJ Dawe has authored six shows (including Labrador, The Doctor Is Sick and The Curse of the Trickster) and a handful of adaptations of literary works. The script to his original show The Slip-Knot was recently nominated for a Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.

In addition to being a prolific writer, Dawe is also a tireless performer — he devotes a good chunk of every year touring his plays. He’s been on stage at everything from the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal to the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and is a mainstay of the Canadian Fringe theatre festivals. Dawe is currently on a cross-Canada tour of the Fringe circuit, which takes him to Toronto (July 6-16), Winnipeg (July 20-30), Saskatoon (August 5-14), Victoria (August 25-September 5) and Vancouver (September 8-18). His diary of this year’s Fringe circuit will be updated throughout the summer.

Part 3

People are having a hard time understanding my “box set” concept.

“You mean you’re doing four shows every time?”

“No, it’s four different shows over six performances, a different one almost every time.”

“You mean you’re doing ten minutes from four shows, all pasted together?”

“No, four complete shows, but all on different days.”

“In four different venues?”

At this point, I start turning red. They also don’t understand the title of the new show: Maxim & Cosmo. They think I’m saying “Maximum Cosmo”; it doesn’t help that I’m a mumbler. Or they think it’s a two-person show, the characters being Maxim and Cosmo. No! The title refers to the magazines! I’m talking about gender stereotypes!

“And this is a new show?”

“Well, I’m still working on it. I’m reading it off the page. It’s my next year’s show.”

“You’re doing next year’s show this year?”

“More or less, yeah.”

“And you’re doing that, combined with all of your other shows, every time, in four different venues?”

At this point I light a stick of TNT and put it in their handbag.

There’s going to be a cabaret here — a spoof night. Earlier in the festival, I came up with this idea and mentioned it at the performers’ bar and people liked it, and now it’s happening. Here’s what it is: anyone who wants to be involved writes down the name of their show on a piece of paper and puts it in a hat. Then, all the participants draw from the hat, and they have until Thursday at midnight to prepare a three-minute version of whatever they’ve drawn. Who’s doing what is kept a secret. Who knows if it’ll work. To hell with safety, though — it’s a midnight show. Last year, they had a late-night improv tournament over three nights. This year, we’re trying this. It’ll be sort of like skit night at camp. Open to the public. Perfect for performers, and staff, and volunteers, and people who see lots of shows. All proceeds go to charity. We’ve got a place to do it — the Off-Broadway Dinner Theatre — a regular Fringe venue, and it’s adjacent to the performers’ bar, so we can all get sloshed at intermission.

We drew from the hat last night. There are about thirty companies involved. Didn’t expect so many people. I hope everybody keeps it to three minutes or less.

Been seeing a whole bunch of shows. I always do in Saskatoon. Winnipeg’s a frenzy; so’s Edmonton. Saskatoon isn’t. There’s room to breathe here. And plenty of people are going on to Edmonton, but I’m not. I didn’t get drawn in the lottery. And lots of Fringe tours end in Edmonton. So this is my last chance to see some people’s work.

Good or bad, I want to see as much as I can. You learn from everything. And theatre’s so expensive outside the Fringe; I don’t see enough. And it’s a lot easier to take a chance when a ticket’s less than ten bucks, or free because you know the cast. And most shows are an hour, so a bad one isn’t that big of a slice out of your life. A touring Fringer often sees twenty to a hundred plays a summer — more than most people see in their entire lives. And I’m mainlining it here. Shows start in two-hour increments. There’s always enough of a pause after one’s done to get something to eat, have a drink, walk around for a bit and make it to something else.