Fringe Fest: Montreal improv group retells classic fairy tales

A Montreal improv group is offering audiences a chance to enjoy classic fairy tales like they’ve never seen them before – and will never see them again.

The group “Priddy Playful Productions” is retelling fairy tales as part of the 33rd St-Ambroise Fringe Montreal Festival.

The show is called “Once Upon a Time and Never Again…” – with six performances throughout the festival. The final three are on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s called ‘Once Upon a Time and Never Again…’ because, obviously, it starts off with ‘once upon a time,’” said Hannah Cartmel, the creator of Priddy Playful Productions. “And ‘never again’ because it’s improvised. You’ll never get to see this story retold. This is the only time you can see it.”

Cartmel discovered Montreal’s improv community seven years ago.

Last summer she created Priddy Playful Productions, named after the village she grew up in England. It was a way connect with other Montrealers who shared the same passion for comedy and improv.

“You’re sharing this magic when you get on stage,” she said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. But you go up there and you start doing your scenes. And you’re just listening to each other. And you’re just building a connection on stage and you’re building a story together.

“One of the reasons why I’m still here is that I found a community in Montreal.”

The St-Ambroise Fringe Montreal Festival is presenting more than 700 performances until June 18.

“When I came to improv, I was like ‘oh my God, these are my people,’” said Ariel De Roo, a member of the ‘Once Upon a Time’ cast. “These people are funny, and we just get each other.”

The cast has done interactive adaptations of some of the most watched motion picture series, like Harry Potter, Games of Thrones, and Bridgerton. Because the dialogues are made up on the spot with the help of the audience, no play is ever the same.

A quote that Cartmel keeps close to her heart is by the English author Philip Pullman, famous for his own retellings of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales:

“Fairy tales are not a text. They are meant to be passed down; they are meant to be told through your voice,” said Cartmel. “Whether it’s more dramatic, or dark, or comedic. And he says we have a duty to retell them.

“That’s what we are doing at the Fringe. We are retelling these fairy tales but through improv and through a comedic voice.”