Annually described as “the hottest two weeks in winter,” Centaur’s Wildside festival is ideal for theatregoers who have scribbled in their New Year’s resolutions a determination to crash out of their comfort zones.
Taking place in early January, just in time for those fading seasonal hangovers to become manageable, it consists of several shows that have been either hand-picked from the previous summer’s Fringe festivals or have otherwise come to the attention of the festival’s curators. (Actually, “curator,” singular: local performer/director Johanna Nutter is flying solo now that her usual co-curator Roy Surette has stepped down from the Centaur director’s chair.) There’s also the concurrent late-night Offside events, which take place at the Centaur’s bar area, and which this year include tributes to Nina Simone and Iggy Pop.
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As it happens, Iggy is a rare male presence in this 21st edition of the festival. (Don’t salivate too much: the 70-year-old legend will be there in spirit, not in leathery, torso-baring person.) As Nutter puts it in Wildside’s press release: “I usually approach the programming like I’m planning a banquet, choosing plays that cover a spectrum wide enough to satisfy everyone’s tastes. This year it just worked out that most of the playwrights, actors or the subject matter of each production is female or non-binary centric. Recent world events and media headlines suggest that this year’s Wildside is in total sync with global issues and changes.”