Described as two productions of physical theatre, one may not be sure what to expect from the performances of PIG by Solo Chicken Productions and Fruit Machine by their emerging artist initiative, the coop, as the lights fall and a woman veiled in red shows up. However, in the Open Space Theatre of Fredericton’s Theatre New Brunswick, the hour that follows will see viewers in a deep reflection on the oppression of both modern-day women and the LGBTQ2+ community—just not in a mainstream fashion.
Lisa Anne Ross, director and co-creator of PIG and the artistic producer of Solo Chicken Productions said PIG was created as a response to the 2016 American presidential elections. During that time, she was confused by the public’s response to female politicians.
After doing some research, Ross realized the sexist rhetoric around female politicians was worse than she thought.
“The way female politicians are still talked about and treated is not in a professional capacity but it’s always in a sexualized or feminized capacity…I thought maybe we had advanced a bit further but we haven’t,” she says.
PIG is only the first incarnation of her and visual artist Danielle Hogan’s collaborative project, which explored femininity and aimed to foster beauty from the negative dialogue surrounding femininity and feminism.
Hogan worked on the costumes and props of the play—a variety of red-coloured veils, masks and even jewelled and tasseled underwear—while Ross directed the piece and performed a part in it.
Few words are spoken throughout the play except the derogatory and misogynistic words of Donald Trump at the beginning.
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
“Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
These are only some of the repeated quotes that are played throughout the show.
Through approximately 20 different scenes, women actors express their emotions through exaggerated movements as though they make their way through Donald Trump’s words, society’s negative rhetoric and taboo of menstruation, and the fight to gain something resembling equality.
They walk across the stage in robes. They look into glaring light. They sit in a circle together but just far enough apart that they aren’t touching. They fight ghosts in the sky with umbrellas.
At the end of the play, Ross herself comes on stage dressed as a female politician archetype, smiling and thanking everyone for the win.
It was a chilling contrast to the rest of the dark mood of the play and the character, even while smiling through her teeth, made some remarks that would last on the audience.
“I don’t think any of us knew the road would be this long,” she said.
And as the rest of the cast of nameless women who moved throughout the play joined her onstage, they looked into the crowd.
Their eyes seemed to ask a question: “Why?”
And the audience is left to figure that out for themselves.
The second feature, Fruit Machine, starts with a spotlight being thrown on stage and an apple rolled out across the floor.
Fruit Machine focuses on the investigation into the purge of public service, foreign service and members of the military and RCMP in the 50s and 60s.
The theatre piece, although mostly comprised of repeated lines taken from online documents and the book Canadian War on Queers, expresses its emotion mainly through the actors’ movements.
As lines are read, movements will often take the place of inner monologues or soliloquies, but it doesn’t take away from the play in any way. Rather, it adds to it.
We feel the emotion with the characters as they try to scrape away their queerness in a desperate attempt to fit in, as they feel powerless and motionless on the floor or as they deflate.
Minimal excerpts are repeated throughout the whole show but these choice words invoke emotions key to the helplessness, fear and isolation that these individuals felt.
Another feature is that the primary source of light for the play is from flashlights, giving the impression the whole piece is situated in an interrogation room.
In a way, it is. These LGBTQ2+ individuals’ lives are under interrogation.
Alex Rioux and Samuel Crowell, artists in residence at Solo Chicken Productions, were the co-creators of the physical theatre performance Fruit Machine.
Both members of the LGBTQ2+ community themselves, Rioux and Crowell say the story impacted them and they decided to do research.
“I am a gay person myself, so this was something that was really important to me to depict and present…I thought this was a great way to explore my own queerness within my own field,” says Rioux.
As for director and co-creator of PIG, Lisa Anne Ross says she doesn’t know what the plays will do for the audience, but she said PIG is meant to stir feeling in people.
“I want people to a strong response to it. I don’t think you cannot.”
“We wanted to make something beautiful from all this shit we found.”
For Fruit Machine, Rioux hopes his and Crowell’s play encourages people to delve deeper into the topic.
“I hope it raises awareness about the subject and inspires people to go out and search for these things themselves… A lot of people think things like these just wouldn’t happen in Canada, but sadly they do.”