Ottawa’s Fresh Meat Festival showcases a diverse group of local artists each year, allowing emerging talent to create and perform new, innovative, short works, which often blur lines between dance, poetry, burlesque, clown, pantomime, performance art, stand-up, sketch comedy, storytelling, and more. Here are some impressions of several shows I caught during the first weekend of 2023’s Fresh Meat.
Image: Sage Mosurinjohn.
All Things Bright and Beautiful
A story of a young girl facing a climate in the Philippines, All Things Bright and Beautiful is a touching and profound piece that brings love and light to the stage. Following her experience of typhoons, Sunday school, and immigrating to a new family in Canada, we are welcomed to join along for the journey. Ella Bustamante-Bawagan and Erica Jaemes Palabrica both portray Adelaida Bustamante, the show’s writer and director (who also plays herself) at various ages. This show touched on the importance of community, the class divide and faith—and through projections and sound clips, we’re brought deeper into her experience. I look forward to seeing where this show goes from here!
Image: Sage Mosurinjohn.
Mom Jokes
Ooooh, this was a good one. Mom Jokes begins at a baby shower and builds into a truly hilarious, well-paced series of poignant stories. This show balances excellent standup, natural storytelling and silly banter with succinct commentary on the division of gender roles and expectations of new parents. Christina Muehlberger is a phenomenally skilled comedian, and her husband Doug Wallace is an excellent stage partner—and also very funny, with excellent timing, quipping in with “dad jokes” while she performs an intimate and deeply personal set. The two of them have created an incredibly fun and relevant show that was was warm and made me laugh the whole way through. I would absolutely love to see more of this show or anything else they create.
Image: Sage Mosurinjohn.
Meat Baby
A fun, fast-paced series of short, over-the-top scenes, Meat Baby takes us on a wild ride from the very beginning. We’re met with an enthusiastic introduction to self-awareness and from there, the show manages themes that ranged from therapy to dating apps to infomercials. Joshua Mayo pulls us into this delightfully bizarre world he’s created to further explore his own various parts of himself. Part standup, part sketch comedy, with many costume changes, this show was well-paced and honest while also being unpredictable and silly. Meat Baby is as playful as it is vulnerable and Mayo is engaging the whole way through, keeping the audience laughing and on their toes wondering what could possibly be next!
Image: Sage Mosurinjohn.
WEG
A silly, emotional vampire-themed sketch comedy show, WEG combines bat puppets, vampires, and activism in a fun and approachable way. This well-timed show (perfect for Halloween!) managed to get the whole audience cheering along to vampire-themed protest chants and taught us all about very real and necessary safety during rallies. Ridiculous, with skits that included commentary on the current political climate, Ottawa-centric happenings, and a goofy elephant, WEG was truly an experience like no other.
Image: Sage Mosurinjohn.
Eau: as in au revoir
A very sweet immersive experience that guides the sole participant through a tiny, cozy and shoeless space, Eau: as in au revoir is a delight. Patrons are brought in one at a time to the small black box lined with linens and asked to write about what we consider to be home. With instructions on how to fold a paper boat in front of the patron, this sweet reflection followed by an action allows the participant to consider what they’ve written. Both English and French audio projected from all sides. This was a very calming, reflective, and simultaneously profound experience.
Fresh Meat Festival runs from October 12–14 and 19–21, 2023, at Arts Court Studio (2 Daly Ave). Get tickets and more info from their website. Arts Court is wheelchair accessible via the 67 Nicholas Street entrance.
