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PHOTO_ROBERT LALIBERTÉ A
205024
NEWSMAKERS_MONTREAL’S GAY VILLAGE
Village, not a Ghetto
Some pretty amazing stand-up comics have come out
of Montreal over the years and one of the best is legendary
drag queen (and Fugues columnist) Mado La
Motte, so-called because patrons at Poodles’ nightclub
on The Main in Montreal way back in 1987
thought she was so ugly they dubbed her “The Mutt.”
Thus, Mado ‘La Motte’ was born.
“She looks like a clown!” my six-year-old brother Skye told me as he
pointed to Mado at his first Gay Pride parade in Montreal over a
decade ago. When I told Mado about it afterwards, she replied, “He’s
right, I am a clown!”
Mado – a.k.a. former UQÀM theatre student Luc Provost, who quit
university two credits shy of a bachelor’s degree – got her start as a
shooter bitch and cigarette girl at Poodles and Club Lézard. The rest,
as they say, is history (or in Mado’s case, Herstory).
“When young children walk past Cabaret Mado they always point to
Mado’s statue,” Luc told me once. “One time a child said, ‘Look at the
clown!’ And his mother explained, ‘No, that’s a drag queen.’ But children
are the first to recognize what drag queens really are. We are
clowns.”
And none of them is funnier than Mado. The French-speaking Mado
is lightning-quick on her feet and absolutely slayed the mostly anglophone
audience with her deliberately butchered English at her 11th
annual Drag Race at the Montreal Fringe Festival last summer. I was
a judge at the drag races that year and Mado – bless her heart, the
tramp – redubbed me “Richie Bitch.”
Mado is back this summer with her 12TH ANNUAL DRAG RACE
and it is bar-none the most popular, best-attended event at the Montreal
Fringe Festival, which this year runs from June 4-24. Over
60,000 theatre-lovers are expected to attend over 700 performances
(French and English) by more than 500 theatre, comedy, dance,
music and visual artists.
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Here are my choice picks for this year’s edition:
DRAG RACES / LA COURSE EN DRAG A dozen drag queens
to celebrate a dozen years! Mado Lamotte hosts this knock down,
drag-out battle royale pitting Montreal’s best known professional
drag queens against a bevy of FRINGE Beauties in a series of skilltesting
obstacles at the Fringe Parck at Parc des Amériques (Central
Box Office, Outdoor Stage, Beer Tent) on The Main. June 16 at 4
pm. 120 minutes. Free admission.
FUCKING STEPHEN HARPER: HOW I SEXUALLY AS-
SAULTED THE 22ND PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA
AND SAVED DEMOCRACY Written by Rob Salerno, who is also
a news journalist for Xtra. Promo for this play – which got raves in
Winnipeg and Victoria – reads, “We’ve all heard journalist Rob
Salerno ‘sexually assaulted’ Stephen Harper. Now hear Salerno’s
side of the story at this signing of his tell-all memoir, which
Maclean’s calls ‘an hilarious tale of Canadian politics and what
Stephen Harper’s balls feel like.’” At Petit Campus (57 Prince Arthur
E), June 18-24. Runs 60 minutes. $10.
GOD IS A SCOTTISH DRAG QUEEN Written and directed by
Mike Delamont, CanWestNews says of this Victoria Fringe Best Solo
Show winner, “A Cross Between Dame Edna and Billy Connolly with
a dollop of Eddie Izzard.” What’s it about? God, Dressed in a floral
power suit, skewers everything from Bieber to the Pope. This show
has sold out all of its Canadian performances to date. At Cabaret du
Mile-End (5240 Parc Ave.), June 16-24. Runs 75 minutes. $10.
IF LOOKS CAN KILL...THEY WILL! I love the “kids” of Montreal’s
terrific Glam Gam Productions crew who’ve long been putting
on funny, sassy, racy shows – often with eye-popping nudity – at
Montreal’s Café Cléopâtre. Well, they’re back with a new comedy/
musical theatre/cabret show. Their promo reasds, “Ever since
polyamorous lovers Sarah, Michael and Julie invited members of
their Glamily over for a burlesque dinner party cabaret, tensions
have been rising on set… as has the body count! Help sexy Sherlock
Homo and Dr. Hotson solve this mysterious case!” Written, choreographed
and directed by Glam Gam Productions, June 8-16 at Café
Cléopâtre (1230 St-Laurent). Runs 105 minutes. $10.
HIPPOLYTOS Euripides’ play about desire starring the hugely-talented
Antonio Bavaro in drag (you may know Antonio’s drag alterego
Connie Lingua performing at queer nights like POMPe
Thursdays at the Katakombes co-op on The Main, or for his widelyacclaimed
performance in Hedwig & The Angry Inch at last summer’s
Fringe fest). Written by Euripides, translated by Carina de
Klerk, Lynn Kozak and McGill Classics, and directed by Carina de
Klerk and Lynn Kozak, the promo reads, “Hippolytos doesn’t like
sex, or the sex-goddess Aphrodite. But he’s about to learn you don’t
mess with that goddess. Come see this all-new English version of Euripides’
play about desire, set in a club with original techno music. If
you go out clubbing with Aphrodite, who will you fall for?” At Le