New and emerging artists showcase a medley of theatrical concepts at Fresh Meat 4

 

Ottawa’s Fresh Meat festival leads audiences through an evening of raw, risky and experimental theatre from new and emerging theatre artists. Over two weekends, and featuring two entirely distinct programs, this showcase of roughly twenty-minute trial by fire shows brings creativity to the foreground. Above all else, this is a testing ground for the next generation of artists.

Fresh Meat provides a rare opportunity for theatre markers. It is what a “staged reading” might be for non-text based theatre. And just like at a staged reading, while the shows may lack technical polish, they bring plenty of inspiration. From performances based off of found text, to poetic soundscapes, and even entirely improvised plays, Fresh Meat 4 is all about artistic variety.

During the second weekend of performances, the five plays create an appealing montage of drama, comedy, abstract and narrative-based short plays. Ottawa audiences may be familiar with THUNK!theatre’s work, for example their trans-Atlantic, environmental piece FAR & NEAR & HERE at Undercurrents in 2015. In fact, that play was born out of Fresh Meat festival in 2013. This year, they bring Fresh Meat audiences another new theatrical concept. TOLERANCE flips the theatre experience on its head, putting its audience at the centre of the narrative. While audience participation can come across as gimmicky, TOLERANCE’s final few minutes put audience participation to good use and create an inverted piece where the performers end up in the audience, and the audience is crammed on stage. The aesthetic they achieve in this moment is quite beautiful.

Madeleine Hall’s ETHEL is one of the stand-out performance of Fresh Meat 4. Hall juxtaposes her gestures with a narrative relating to an elderly friend, Ethel. The play is noticeably under-vocalized, however, Hall creates a beautiful story arc where existential questions flow with a sardonic humour alongside her memories of Ethel. It is the kind of play that has the spark of something more robust. It is conceivably the heart of what might one day be a full-length play.

The importance of this kind of platform – the Fresh Meat festival – for theatre makers and for artistry in Ottawa is unique. It provides an invaluable opportunity for artists to indulge in their process and to mount that concept for a live audience. Ottawa’s emerging theatre makers will be all the better is alive and well. Whatever these artists might form from the seeds planted here at Fresh Meat 4, I am eager to see.