I caught two thought-provoking (and funny) shows this weekend.
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Patricia Darbasie in Donna Orbits the Moon,
Brianne Jang BB Collective Photography |
The first,
Donna Orbits the Moon presented by Northern Light Theatre, was a one-woman show with the impressive Patricia Darbasie as Donna, a woman finding herself reacting with intense rage to inconveniences in her life. We are not exactly sure at the beginning why these moments are provoking such anger and violence, but there's something in the way that Donna tells the story that we are totally on her side. Indeed when I read a description online before seeing the show, I immediately connected. Too often we are expected to smile and be accommodating and the desire to say "
No!" is often very strong with me.
I see you, Donna! But there's something more to Donna's rage. There's a concrete reason she's suppressing and the reveal is deftly revealed in a touching and emotionally moving way (Directed by Trevor Schmidt). I appreciated the layered humour, and the beautiful lighting (Rae McCallum) and projections (Matt Schuurman) that echoed Donna's fracturing as she moved through her journey and we learned the whole story. It's funny, because Donna does some really bizarre things, but it is also heart-breaking and poignant, when we find out exactly why. I also enjoyed that the play was set in Minnesota, near Duluth, as that's a place close to my heart.
Donna Orbits the Moon runs to February 3rd. Tickets are $38 but there are PWYC and 2for1 nights. Tickets can be purchased here.
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Christine Lesiak and Tara Travis in The Spinsters,
Marc J Chalifoux Photography & Video |
The next night I went to
The Spinsters presented by Small Matters Productions. On it's surface it's the story of Cinderella's step-sisters (
they take umbrage at the label ugly stepsisters) played by Christine Lesiak and Tara Travis. The stepsisters are larger than life and very funny and they engage with the audience cleverly with tongue-in-cheek cattiness. The story is relayed through wonderfully creative puppet shows, along with the spinsters own retelling. They have opinions about how they have been portrayed and they aren't impressed with much of it! The costumes and Production design (Adam Dickson & Ian Walker) are ridiculously clever and mind-blowing. There's literally a pocket for everything! And the puppetry is similarly fun (Jeny Cassady). But this show is more than just fun - you will laugh, but there's also a big uh-oh moment to add weight and make you think a lot after the show.
The Spinsters runs to January 27th. Tickets are $25 plus fees, but there are some special events throughout the run. Tickets can be purchased here.
With both these shows on my mind, I was thinking a lot about the expectations and perceptions of women in our world. How we have to behave a certain way and pushing back against those expectations gets us labelled or chastised, and even when we do what we've been told to do, we can still end up victims. I thought a lot about the Sarah Polley book of essays I read over the holidays, Run Towards the Danger, and how she reflects on her experience with Jian Ghomeshi and other events in her life that were shaped by her need to please or be considered 'good'. I'm still thinking about both shows and how I want to be in the world, and sometimes I think I might want to be like Donna and have a little rage, or like the Spinsters and not always be so very, very nice.
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