Getting an edge at the Fringe
One-man power player TJ Dawe makes it happen on the Canadian Fringe Fest circuit
It's a familiar Canadian tale. A national success goes unnoticed south of the border and local media, unclear how to proceed in the face of American indifference, fumble with their coverage like grandpa at a urinal. Worse news is that the group who most often hits the bathroom floor can least afford to be there, namely the Canadian entertainment "industry."
With
the exception of certain musicians who lounge in Cancon-created belfries,
most local entertainers have little hope of climbing into Canadian awareness
prior to enjoying stateside success. As a result, our most heavyweight talent
often flees, its corpulence appearing even more swollen when refracted back
across the 49th parallel.
Luckily, there are several talented Canadians who haven't flown just yet, and one of them is Vancouver-born, writer, actor and director TJ Dawe. In fact, for the moment, it's the source of Dawe's success that firmly anchors him to our home and native land. After all, the national Fringe Festival circuit itself is a typical Canadian success story.
"A lot of people in the States don't even know there's a Canadian Fringe circuit," says Dawe, who was cast in a touring Fringe production of Daniel MacIvor's Never Swim Alone in the mid-'90s and went on to write, perform and tour his own original, award-winning, monologue-based shows at the Fringe.
The fact that Americans remain unaware of the Canadian circuit isn't too surprising, given their Fringe scene remains small and scattered. A more telling and potentially depressing revelation would be how little most Canadians know about their own national performance festival.
Many Canucks, for instance, would be surprised to learn that of the 40-odd worldwide Fringe Festivals, almost 20 are found in Canadian cities, making our coast-to-coast summer tour easily the biggest of its kind in the world. Supported almost exclusively by the artist participants, volunteers and an enthusiastic core audience, the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit has done more to elevate the popular perception of theatre in this country than anything from Stratford or Niagara-on-the-Lake, and has become a major breeding ground and source of income for some exceptional national and international talent.
Which is not to say that Fringing is an easy way to make a living. Like all artistic endeavours, Fringe success is attained through equal parts talent, hard work and persistence. If you're serious about using the Fringe to launch a performance career, festival veteran TJ Dawe suggests you focus on high quality and higher endurance.
"There's no substitute for the quality of the show," says Dawe. "A big mistake a lot of people on the Fringe make is they throw all their energy into having a gimmick: sex on the poster, sex in the title, a kooky name or concept. None of that matters."
Dawe also suggests that serious contenders forget about making a quick buck. "A lot of people get discouraged after a difficult [summer] and never tour again," says Dawe, who began making his living exclusively from the Fringe and Fringe-related spin-offs in 2001.
"I've lost money in Fringes," says Dawe. "I lost money when I was here in '98. But I came back in '99... and I lost money then," he says laughing. "If you loose money now, big deal," he adds. "What's a bad year if your career is 40 or 50 years? What's a bad five years? As long as you're plugging away, still learning artistically. It's not about making money, it's about creating art."
Happily, when Dawe returned to the Montreal Fringe Festival in 2000, he boasted that year's top-selling show, and the following year won the Just For Laughs Comedy Award for The Slip-Knot, a tight number about dead-end jobs which opened many doors for him.
And Dawe's, of course, is just one of the latest in a growing number of Fringe Festival success stories. Mambo Italiano man-of-the-hour Steve Galluccio started out by working the Fringe circuit, and Rick Miller's popular Shakespeare-goes-to-Springfield fantasy, MacHomer, led to a plum role in Robert Lepage's film Possible Worlds.
Even if Canada's mainstream media is napping at the wheel, Fringe talent isn't going unnoticed. "A guy from Edmonton [Ron Pederson] is now on MadTV," says Dawe, "so there were a few talent scouts at the Edmonton Fringe last year, a couple of producers. Moses Znaimer was there. That kind of thing is starting to happen a little bit more."
And it's not only Canadians getting into the act. Canada's unique tour provides a world-class opportunity for international artists like Japan's Shakti, Australia's Nicola Gunn and Scotland's Jem Rolls, who each use the tour to finance their unique performance explorations.
All of which is good news for Dawe, who, for the meantime at least, will be sticking with Fringe Festivals.
"I never would have imagined things would turn out the way they have, but I'm very glad," says Dawe, whose will mark this 50th Fringe Festival appearance when he arrives in Vancouver later in the summer. "The fact that I'm making a living at this is a miracle to me. Every day I'm grateful for that."
TJ Dawe will be premiering two productions at this year's Montreal Fringe Festival. His new one-man show, A Canadian Bartender at Butlin's, is about a myth-shattering international bartending stint. Dawe also co-wrote another one-man show with talented Fringe buddy Chris Gibbs. Gibbs will perform The Power of Ignorance, teaching audiences why brain cells are like prison cells.
Jason Whiting
The Hour
June 12, 2003
