Monstrous, or, the Miscegenation Advantage

This tedious solo piece finds writer/performer Sarah Waisvisz on a quest to answer that ancient puzzler, “Who am I?”

In her case, that means a search for her multi-racial roots involving an imaginary journey from St. Martinique to Africa to Europe to Ottawa. It means encountering people who link skin colour to identity. It also means 65 dreary minutes for audiences as Waisvisz drapes her premise – if she’s interested in who she is, then everybody else must be as well – in a blend of song, dance, movement and text that does little to universalize her personal story or effectively link past and present even when she dips into the fraught history of the slave trade.

All this is a far cry from her very good show about the long reach of transnational hatred ILoveOrangesAndHateThePort which was part of 2014’s Extremely Short New Play Festival. This time out, she’s simply too conscious of herself, the first thing to avoid when the story is about oneself. Eleanor Crowder directs, and Shara Weaver is the choreographer.

Undercurrents continues until Feb. 20. Tickets & information: Arts Court Theatre box office, 613-765-5555, undercurrentsfestival.ca

Monstrous, or, the Miscegenation Advantage
A Calalou production (Ottawa)
Arts Court Theatre
Reviewed Thursday