Mother Nature

Postcard review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Mother Nature

Playwright – Bharma Roget with collaborators Karen Hines and Brendan Milburn

Production Company/Theatre space – One Yellow Rabbit, High Performance Rodeo, Bhama Roget Production in the Big Secret, Theatre, Arts Commons.

Length – 1 ACT (85 minutes)

Genre/s – (billed as a genre defying, rock comedy) It’s a comic fantasy, interpretive theatre, musical for adults.

Premise – Mother Nature visits her children to communicate through songs that even if an apocalypse is imminent it will be ok because she was there at the crucible of the universe, the creation of our solar system, the dinosaurs, the meteor that killed them, and a conversation with an alien to remind us of our interconnected collective molecules will remake themselves into something yet to be seen and we are a “we” not “me”.

Why this play? Why now? – At a time when human anxiety is high, and the nuclear arsenal can annihilate the planet it’s good to have comic entertainment.

Curiosities – I wondered why we were asked to write out our fears on a piece of paper and drop them into a hat preshow.

Notable Moment – With fake blood and a rubber bat she tries unsuccessfully to bite its head off Ozzy style.

Notable writing – The lyrics are delivered in a collision of rock, metal, folk, jazz, opera, ballad and disco. There is a raunchy, comic whimsey to her style. It ended a bit abruptly but to “leave them wanting more” is always a good sign.

Notable performances – If Carl Sagan and Joni Mitchel had a child that was raised by Samantha Bee you have an inkling of the fresh, funny character Roget has created. She meshes standup with guitar, showcasing her vocal range. She explains by anthropizing dinosaurs and planets. She praises her children for electric self-driving cars and berates for giving credit to god when clearly, she is the instigator of flowers and mudslides.

Notable design/Production – Bare stage except for 3 black boxes and a guitar illuminated with coloured lights and a disco ball.

Notable direction – Presumably self-directed, Roget energetically demonstrates dinosaur sex, interplanetary conflict, and her conversation with the alien (that could be our collective daddy). Never a dull moment (guitar tuning aside).

One reason to see this show – She tells us more than once that we should all risk creative failure, she has risked and succeeded.