Rotten Apple
Created by Corinne Viau
Produced by Red Beret Theatre (Gatineau, Canada)
45M |
Content Notes: Open Captions, Abrupt Loud Noise, Violence, Sexual Content, Mature Language, Mental Health Topics
By Nathan Erb
Step into the digital world of the incel in this clever drama centring on two streamers struggling with their twisted relationship.
The show begins as Macrae’s stream does, with intensity and anger already threatening to cause the action to turn sour. To those audience members who are unfamiliar with the dangerous reality of the incel community, Macrae and his gaggle of internet supporters might seem at first unbelievable. But the story anchors these men’s wild personalities in the language they use and the perspectives they take. It becomes genuinely unnerving but in the most meaningful way. And when the cloud of toxic masculinity becomes so thick it threatens to obscure any sense of hope, Eve begins her stream. The tonal switch from hate to love is a wise and necessary shift in the play, and it doesn’t blunt the consistently sharp conflict underpinning the story. The stakes remain high for everyone involved.
Kudos are warranted for the actors’ skilled use of space, energy, and symbolism to bring the digital world to the stage. As the chaos of anonymous messages and anger rushes into the streamer’s chats, the actors become equally frantic, charging the room with passion and desperation. And when the chaos settles, the reckoning begins. Is there any redemption for an incel? Will you ever look at apples the same way?
Rotten Apple exposes the terrifying reality that the internet is not just filled with good and bad people but that the internet can make good and bad people.
Rotten Apple 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/.
.gif)
