Surviving the pandemic XIV: Mouth Congress and 5 short plays in under an hour

12 Feb 2021 -

Spring is coming and so, allegedly, are vaccines for all. In the meantime we're still trapped indoors in front of our streaming devices searching for entertainment options to keep us occupied and stimulated. Fortunately March is roaring in like a lion with two star-studded events that would be not-to-be-missed even if we weren't in lockdown.

Like the majority of arts events, the Kingston Canadian Film Festival has moved online. There are many intriguing titles - My Salinger Year (a literary The Devil Wears Prada), My Very Own Circus (a young girl rebels against her father who is a clown), and The Kid Detective (Adam Brody tries to solve the case that stumped him when he was a celebrity "kid detective") - but the jewel in the crown is the world premiere of Mouth Congress, a documentary about the legendary punk band Mouth Congress. 

Mouth Congress (the film) is a vanity project in the best way possible. Band members Scott Thompson and Paul Bellini, the comic geniuses of Kids in the Hall and Buddy Babylon: The Autobiography of Buddy Cole, are also the directors of the film so their legacy will be presented unvarnished but heavily schticked. Hopefully it will be a VHI Behind the Music-esque sordid extravaganza pulsing with the high attitude music and violent sensuality of a Mouth Congress show. To further sweeten the punk energy, the streaming screening is followed by a Q&A with Thompson and Bellini. Both are witty, bitchy and fabulous so anything goes. Ask about the night with the groupies and the shark.

Mouth Congress streams at 8pm on Friday, March 5 and tickets will be honoured until 11:59pm on Sunday, March 7. kingcanfilmfest.com 

After Bellini (The Case of the Golden Purse) exercises his improv muscles in the Q&A, he almost immediately launches into a more serious and strenuous theatrical endeavour as one of the stars of the Queerly Canadian Edition of a short play festival, "5 Short Plays In Under An Hour." The details, as well as the official title, are vague but apparently Bellini plays a "patient" and triple-threat Keith Cole (Box 4901, #HashTagGallery Slut, Kingstonia, Dancing Queen, BoylesqueTO) plays a nurse. A fifth of an hour well spent. The rest of the cast and crew is as stellar, featuring David Bateman, (Dr Sad, The Case of the Golden Purse, Parting: This Waltz with Words, A Mad Bent Diva, People are Horrible Wherever You Go) Stewart Borden, Philip Cairns, Andrew Fedosov, Trish Fonberg, Raymond Helkio (Leduc, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Fuck You, Coming Out Queer), Brock Hessell, and Amy J. Lester.

If you have clicked on any of the links, you will quickly discover that this is essentially a theatrical/performance art repertory company as all the artists have worked together in various combinations and permutations over the years. Familiarity breeds intent. Helkio, who appears to be the ringleader, trumpets that, "The shows are funny, weird, inspiring and LIVE!" Borden, co-ringleader, explains that the event is "Designed specifically for a live streaming audience, artists in the festival are challenged to create works that are under ten minutes in length and capture the 'liveness' of the in-person experience." And that it is "part of an international festival, being run out of Rome." All I can guarantee is that it will amuse, arouse (Keith Cole in a nurse's uniform!), and probably elucidate.

The event livestreams at 4pm on Sunday, March 7 on Instagram. instagram.com/thebalconyarts