Ottawa Fringe: Get Well Soon a Promising Start to a Long-Term Project

 

Get Well Soon, presented by Hamda Elmi, has an admirable presence at Ottawa Fringe, with a prescient message and strong cast of black women. It is a short and honest piece of theatre, and utilizes a sometimes-successful mediation of technology and live performance. Get Well Soon absolutely has a life and future beyond the confines of its run at Ottawa Fringe, but would benefit from further workshopping and refining of its technical components. 

Get Well Soon features three women of colour in a group counseling session, each having their own personal reason for seeking therapy. The show has a somewhat repetitive structure; each figure voices their grievances against having to be in the room, moves to a centre chair, and speaks their inner thoughts and problems, backdropped by a multimedia presentation on a large screen. These videos are a bit awkward, being manually started by the figure in question fiddling with an onstage MacBook. The music is a little cheesy, the transitions a bit choppy – this show is rough around the edges. Its emotional core is sufficiently potent, but its framing needs some help. 

Get Well Soon has some lovely moments, with a solid cast and writing that signifies a promising future for Hamda Elmi. 

Get Well Soon runs through June 23. For full scheduling, visit www.ottawafringe.com/schedule. Get Well Soon is in Venue 4 – LabO.