I’ll take them where I can get them…

This time last year I was part of Freak Show, Swallow-A-Bicycle’s contribution to One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo. I was pulled into a number at the last moment, handed a megaphone and told to climb to the highest point accessible on the top of The Epcor Center. Outside. In the snow. In the cold. In the dark. Did I mention the snow?

It was awesome.

I’m not able to yell at you people this year (and yelling at people through a Megaphone is awesome fun) because unfortunately I’m not part of Freak Show. I know. It makes me sad also. I haven’t seen my Megaphone in almost a year. I called him “Titan”. Happiness is a loud Megaphone…

But I do have a part to play in the High Performance Rodeo. Here’s two more shows you should check out, Swallow-A-Bycicles Freak Show, and Ground Zero Theatre’s 10 Minute Play festival.

Freak Show
Presented by Swallow-A-Bicycle
January 7 – 9, Tours leave from Center Court, Epcore Centre
Tickets $15

Freak Show is something a bit different than most theatre you catch in the city, which makes it a perfect fit for the HPR. It’s comprised of three tours. Each depart from the Freak Show ticket booth in Centre Court, right in the middle of the craziness of Midway. The tours will take you through a diverse style of theatre disciplines in new work generated for the location that each group of artists is assigned.

There are two components that make Freak Show something worth checking out at the HPR. The first is the talent. Although many participants are actors, you will also find dancers, contortionists, musicians, and some people you can only really define as “artists”. The second ingredient is the locations. Each of the three tours will take you into locations that most people will never see. Tour guides can take you backstage, past the dressing rooms, and into theatre’s belly.  Cargo elevators, behind restricted access doors, and up the ladder to the stage… If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll end up out on the roof.

It is possible to see all three shows, but you will have to pay for each tour (they are all seperate shows), and there are no presale tickets. Last year the tours were packed, and more than a few were turned away.

Stay tuned, there may be news on getdown.ca shortly about how you can get a bit of a preview of the tours…

10 Minute Play Festival
Presented by Ground Zero Theatre
January 9th, 7.30pm, Martha Cohen Theatre
Tickets $15

I’m going to get the shameless plug over with. I’m in this. I’m stoked to be part of this challenge.

In it’s tenth year, the 10-Minute Play Festival has proven to be a mostly crazy fun time. Doug McKeag, fresh off of his role as Toad in ATP’s Toad of Toad Hall, hosts the evening, taking every opportunity he can get to skewer the performers with his sharp wit and raised eyebrow.

For 24 hours, local theatre companies field teams who have to write, rehearse and perform a show. Friday evening each of the teams receives a package containing a line or two of dialog (traditionally from the OYR Main Stage show) and a prop. They must feature these items centrally in their work, and be ready to perform the following night.

I’m excited and a bit freaked. This will be my first time on the Martha Cohen Deck, and I cant wait. You’ll either find me in The Auburn Saloon later Saturday night with shaking hands and a sullen face or a huge smile and a beer in hand.

I’m confident it’ll be the latter.

Better than hiding in a bunker and waiting it out

Swallow-a-Bicycle has stumbled across the truth. The world isn’t going to end in 2012. The government has not been secretly building arks to save a lucky few. The world ends this week. Friday night actually.

Or at least that is the back drop for Last Night – an end of the world party. Friday, the 13th of November, The Palomino will be playing host to one last big throw down. Swallow-A-Bicycle is trying to cover all of your end of the world needs, with a graffiti wall to scrawl on, a party priest to confess those guilty moments too, and music from Seven Story Redhead, The Shagbots and Type Monkey Type. Since it’s our last night on earth, we are invited to wear what we will.

I mentioned to Charles Netto, Co-artistic director of Swallow-a-Bicycle, that I was considering going with a sandwich board that had “Repent Sinners” and “The End is Upon Us” written on it. He’s got a bit more class then me.

“I am going the tux route. I think if it was the end of the world and I was by myself or with just a few people I would wear my ripped jeans and my Joel Plaskett t-shirt. However, for an end of the world party I want to go black tie and so I am going with the tuxedo. Like any good party by the end it might not be fully intact so that when the world really came to an end the outfit would be more of a disheveled tuxedo.”

But how did you come up with the idea? “I just know that it is what I would actually do if it was the end of the world, i.e. throw a party. Pretty much that would be the biggest party ever wouldn’t it? I guess some people might want to be alone or curl up but I would want to be with the people I love celebrating art, dancing, love and music. It just seem like it would give a party a unique feel. It is not thematic with our season, just something we thought it would be fun to do.

“It’s important to find ways to communicate your own excitement about the party and what helps with that is having a theme or idea behind it that you are genuinely excited by. In this case ‘End of the World’ party is something we think is really cool and fun. We value making real connections. We like to meet new people and make them feel welcome. We genuinely enjoy our own parties and we like to communicate that to the people who come. We like to make them feel open and included. We have fun, our friends have fun, we like to talk and dance and meet new people.”

And Swallow-A-Bicycle has thrown more than a few solid parties in the past. If you want to get out of the bunker and enjoy your final minutes, tickets can be purchased online on their website.

Last Night – and end of the world party
Presented by Swallow-A-Bicycle
[Tix and info]

Friday, November 13, 2009
Tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Doors @ 9:00 pm
Palomino Smokehouse
109 7th Ave SW