Openings We're Tracking, December 17 - January 7

Nothing Never Happens In Norway

Get your rest over the holidays, you're going to need it.

Push is coming mid-January in Vancouver, and at the beginning of February there is undercurrents in Ottawa. But in the race of delicious, mind-bending, genre-bending, mid-winter festivals Next Stage in Toronto and WildSide in Montreal are first out of the gate, both hitting the icy pavement January 3.

Both fests have an eclectic mix of works - curated by organizers - from small, indie, alternative companies and most of the shows are meant to challenge and delight, not merely to comfort.

In Montreal you have a musical based on Ibsen (Nothing Never Happens in Norway), a Bollywood-style show about two cultures meeting/clashing/loving (Poutine Masala), an outré but lovable solo from Japan (A Day in the Life of Miss Hiccup) and a few other works to warm the cold cockles.

In Toronto there is the (unscripted) Throne of Games (guess what that is about!), a black comedy about hockey's ravages (Sudden Death), an event that sounds like a blast and "features" one of entertainment's great eccentrics (Liza Live!), and the story of a "white" looking "Indian" (Salt Baby). But there is so much more and, like Wildside at Centaur, it is all in one little hothouse, Factory.

It's all a chance to get seriously silly. Look into the future.