Not much time left, but plenty of shows.  I’m doing three today (Children of Medea, Riding the Bull, and Irish Authors Held Hostage) and four tomorrow (The Quick Brown Fox …, Herbie: Poet of the Wild West, FlagBoy, and Dorks On the Loose). Hey, gotta make up for some of the time I spent away last weekend — and besides, we haven’t reviewed a couple of those, so I thought I’d check ‘em out.

Meanwhile, Fringe diversions, Never-Know-Who-You’ll-Run-Into department: That was activist and brother-annoyer Candace Gingrich at this afternoon’s performance of Children of Medea.

And the street was abuzz about the Secret Service-fueled delay at today’s closing performance of Peace Warriors. The First Lady? The Boss Himself, even, ducking the beer-with-Gates buzz for a bit?

Nope: Apparently it was Rahm Emanuel, whose daughter (so the word on the street had it) was in the show.

So: Y’all seen anybody fun?

In case you haven’t yet done so…

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Closing time is a simple concept.  At 12:25 am, the bartender announces, “Last Call at 12:30!”  As I select my beverage (from the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent bar’s refreshingly delectable beer menu), the bartender explains that Fringe’s alcohol permit extends only until 1 a.m., so I will have to finish my beverage before then.  Perfectly understandable.

So please explain to me why the Fringe beer police start grabbing cups out of your hands at 12:40 a.m.!  Last Saturday night, my friend got up from our table to make room in her bladder to finish her beer, and when she got back at 12:45, her beer had been confiscated—against our protestations.   This Saturday night, after being harassed every 5 minutes by said beer police, the editor of this City Paper blog had his nearly full bottle swiped from under his nose at 12:48.  We were informed that Alcohol Beverage Control has been cracking down (they don’t like ‘em theatre-types, I reckon).

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Thespians have a rich history of bickering. My favorite dramatic duel happened in 1830, at the opening night of Victor Hugo’s Hernani in Paris. Hugo, a romantic, had blatantly ignored a number of theretofore sacred theatrical conventions — a plot that takes place over the course of a single day, for example, and in a single location — things that those of the neoclassical persuasion held dear. So dear, in fact, that at the premiere a brawl erupted between the two theoretical camps, classicists hissing and spitting at romantics, bohemians bludgeoning the bourgeoisie with mockeries, food, even fists. The fighting went on for weeks, forcing Hugo to enlist volunteer bodyguards.  If this is what you got after a few infractions of Aristotle’s rules, imagine what those classicists would’ve thought of, oh I don’t know, Bare Breasted Women Sword Fighting, or My Fabulous Sex Life?

I tell this anecdote to broach an unfortunate matter which warrants only brief mention on this blog — a percolating dispute between two Washington theater companies over a production of The Lost Ones that I reviewed (quite positively) this week.

The current production comes courtesy of Spooky Action Theater. Directed by Robert  Richard Henrich, performed by Carter Jahncke, it’s an adaptation of a short story by Samuel Beckett called Le dépeupleur. Between 1999 and 2004, SCENA Theater mounted several productions of a similar piece, also called The Lost Ones‚ in D.C. and in Europe, directed by Robert McNamara, also starring Jahncke (and at one point showing in the same space it currently occupies, The Warehouse).

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What’s on your mind, Fringepeople? Excited about a show we haven’t weighed in on? Cranky about the dearth of Diet Coke at the Baldacchino bar, or curious about exactly how Julianne defines “air-conditioned,” for the purposes of that “All Fringe venues are air-conditioned” claim? Aghast about the brewing press-release battle over that Beckett show?

The comments await: Light it up, people…

All right, fringeguy, you needn’t ask us twice.  If people are looking for a place to slap some general comments, do it here, do it hard.  We’re certainly not ubiquitous, so tell us about the stuff we’ve missed.

Also, I’m curious what people think so far of this year’s more densely situated venues.  I work in the Mount Vernon Square-Convention Center node, and it definitely strikes me as more vibrant than last year, when the venues were spread out across northwest.  Then again, maybe it’s just the swarms of middle school tour groups going to my head. (They wear name tags; we wear buttons.)

Leave a comment after the beep.  (BEEP!)

One more recommendation. Not a review, because (a) I’m not really a dance critic, and (b) my other half used to perform with this company, so even if I were I’d probably recuse myself.

But if only as one last reminder that this year’s Fringe has been a bit more multidisciplinary than it was in years past, I thought I’d point out what the WashPost has to say about the Tehreema Mitha Dance Company’s contribution to the festival.

I’ve always been impressed by the technique and the focus Tehreema and her disciples exhibit in the more traditional Bharatanatyam repertoire — that’s some heavy-duty stuff — and by the expressive range she finds in both that material and in the classical-contemporary fusion pieces she choreographs.

So check ‘em out, if that’s the sort of thing that appeals to ya. Three shows left: Tonight at 8:30, Saturday at 5, Sunday at 5.

Several commenteers (the extra “e” is purposeful, in the vein of “buccaneers” or “racketeers”) have requested a daily open thread for purging purposes.

So…what’s turning you on?  What’s turning you off?  What’s turning you around in circles?  Good God, please, tell us!

What: OmegaBand
Who: You
Where: The Baldacchino (607 New York Ave NW)
When: Tonight, 10 PM – 11 PM
How much: $0
Why: Why not?