Student Review: Fresh Meat Festival
Reviewed by Crysania Sprott THE 4333 A
The second evening of the sixth Fresh Meat festival which was held at the Arts Court theatre on Friday, October 13th offered up an nice selection of new works by artists in the Ottawa theatre community. The first three performances presented a good variety of pieces, and offered something for everyone.
Le Crisp Bleu
The first work of the evening provided the most lighthearted and frivolous fun piece of the show. “Le Crip Bleu”, which was conceived by Michele Decottignies, gave us an intriguing twist on a burlesque performance. While the show provided the expected dancing and stripping to sultry jazz music, the twist was that the performers (Frank Hull and Alan Shain) were two men in electric wheelchairs. The piece employed very creative use of wheelchairs to emulate burlesque moves, but adapted them to suit bodies which are otherwise limited. In this way, “Le Crip Bleu was able to challenge conventions of what is considered beautiful and sexy, while also simply being a lot of fun, both for the performers, who were visibly having a great time, and for the audience, who fed off their infectious energy and shouted and cheered them on. …
Lors de ce moment ultime d’une représentation, nommé « bord de scène », l’un des comédiens nous dira, de la présence anachronique du magicien Volvéro auprès du gouverneur Ovando, — volver, revenir ? ici, revenir dans le passé, revenir sur le passé historique ? — qu’elle est destinée à nous rappeler, dans de constants aller-retours, la ressemblance entre autrefois et aujourd’hui, la similitude entre la colonisation par les puissances européennes au temps des “grandes découvertes”, la colonisation sous forme plus récente de territoires d’outre-mer, et l’aliénation qui d’une autre façon perdure. 
Comédie fantastique en 8 songe. Un spectacle de Macha Makeïeff,
