If You Had The Time
Created by J.P. Chartier
Produced by Barefeet Productions (Gatineau, Canada)
52M | Comedy
Content Notes: Sensory Friendly, Described Performance
Simon awakes. Two attendants assign him a terrible task.
Everyone has died. He has died. But he alone has been chosen to create a new world. Everything he writes will be in the new world. But everything he forgets to write will cease to exist. If he forgets to write giraffes, then giraffes will cease to exist.
He has ONE hour.
The performance starts like an acting exercise. Simon spills out words, then categories, then lists. A taxonomy of his new world. A clock is ticking, but why should the audience care?
Then a phrase, “angel kiss”, triggers Simon. The scene dissolves into a memory of his first kiss, his first love. The actors transform into characters in the scene. It’s not the last word that takes Simon on a trip down memory lane, even as the countdown clock is still ticking.
These small vignettes, interspersed within J. P. Chartier’s rapid-fire delivery of everything that exists are beautiful short stories that draw the audience in. Alongside Chartier, the audience feels as well that the sheer beauty of his memories makes his task even more desperate, lest so many beautiful things disappear from his new world.
Chartier’s play leaves you wondering what the next story will be. There’s more breadth and depth to come in the play, folks, but no spoilers from me.
Opening night for this new play could have used a little more polish, and occasionally better projection. But those quibbles aside, If You Had the Time is a lovely addition to the Ottawa Fringe.
If You Had The Time is playing at Studio 1201 until June 25, 2023. Visit ottawafringe.com/fringe/ for the schedule and box office info. Read more reviews at https://apt613.ca/category/festival/fringe/.
