A new wave of francophone Fringers had begun to emerge around this time. We'd been working on this for a few years; had had Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui as a venue since 2002; had arranged Frankie awards from Chapters for a French text and from the Cirque du Soleil. With prizes like this, people like Muriel de Zangroniz, Fabien Fauteux, Nancy Thomas, and Simon Boulerice (among many others) had extra ammunition for grant applications, residency applications, touring proposals, etc. And whereas the Fringe was still pretty much the only game in town for emerging anglo companies (along now with Theatre Ste-Catherine and MainLine), on the franco side, the Fringe was now becoming a very interesting showcase opportunity for work that, aesthetically, didn't fit anywhere else.    Les Dames was a 20-minute bijou of a duet, a little gothic sandbox piece about two sisters, beautifully written and elegantly directed and acted. It was my favourite show of the 2008 Fringe. Deux dames sur deux.    Except for Spectacle pour emporter. Les Néos were a collective bringing the work of the Neofuturist Theater of Chicago to francophone Montreal. The deal was, they had 35 short pieces; they set a timer for an hour; the audience called out which piece they wanted next; set up; go; rideau; next. When the timer went off, they stopped. The pieces were all autobiographical; they were all highly theatrical. I was crying my eyes out one minute and laughing my ass off three minutes later. They were the last show I saw at the 2008 Fringe, and my definite favourite. 35 pièces sur 35.    Except for Shavirez. Belzébrute had already rocked the beer tent with some puppet work; now they blew the Fringe's mind. Jeremy's buzz review really said it best: "It's like Bugs Bunny meets the Muppets done by pirates!" It was joyous, epic, ridiculous, tragic, heroic, erotic, in short, a show for the whole family! I liked it so much that when they started talking about getting it translated into English, I insisted that I be the one to do it. One terrible pirate terrible out of one.