How Coyote Was Swallowed by the Sandia Mountains - Fringe XX

How Coyote Was Swallowed by the Sandia Mountains @ Espace 4001 (Geordie). By Crazy Going Slowly Players. Written by Anna Roth Trowbridge. Directed by Nathaniel Bryan. Featuring Nathan Bitton (Leo), and Alex Vincent (Scilla). A reincarnation of the honours thesis in Drama and Cognitive Science "A One Man Show or My Brother" (2009) that was originally mounted at McGill's Players' Theatre (see review earlier on this blog). It is part memory-play and part folk-tale. Scilla, Leo's kid sister, tries to learn about and tries to rationalize why her brother, who suffered from bi-polar disorder, left the cold reality of Montreal to end up killing himself in the mystified wilderness of New Mexico. She writes a play to connect with her memory of her brother and to better understand his untreated mental disorder. A struggle then ensues between sanity and insanity, a sister and a trickster, two playwrights that remember things very differently, and we see a story unfold through two very contrasting points of view.

From strictly a creative dramatic perspective there are still some important elements yet to be discovered and that remain undeveloped in this version. Getting out of the analytical brain and into the theatrical brain is always a challenge when dealing with this type of subject matter and from such technical sources. Taking bigger risks and pushing the envelope farther are what is needed to take this play over the creative precipice. However, a very well written, well staged and very well performed piece of important theatre. The movement and interpretation of Nathan Bitton capturing every nuance of his character Leo/Coyote felt very genuine and was quite intriguing. 4 cents. Dee Arr