Jake Mace
Tana Sirois is looking for love, and to have sex – and for her the former has to come before the latter. She’s a Demisexual woman, and on a mission to find out how she can establish intimacy in a world that broadly doesn’t recognise her sexuality. Tana lets us know right at the get-go that she’s tricked us into the room to see if any of us are compatible with her, and launches into a genre-defying, game show, physical theatre romp. This autobiographical dark comedy twists and turns impossibly well, and Tana stares us all right in the face and says “I see you, do you see me?”
As you enter the room, we’re greeted with a clipboard carrying ‘trauma bingo’ and an offer to share our deepest fear. The later reveal is about Tana’s experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which sees the form of the piece transform with sections of high-energy physical theatre and dance that see her respond to compulsions and intrusive thoughts as they appear. This is done with an impressive amount of verve – while these sections could have come across po-faced, they instead fit naturally into this zany world that Tana has created to house her very pertinent and nuanced story.
Intersectionality sits at the heart of UnTethered – does Tana’s OCD affect her understanding of her sexuality? Does her sexuality impact the way she responds to her OCD? Tana makes a dynamic and impassioned case for all of us to engage with this little-heard and little-understood thematic intersection of human experience. As the play develop, we see elements of Tana’s personal journey – plastic bags and feral raccoons, namely – begin to take on a life of their own, weaving their way into the narrative stylistically.
Multimedia elements blend with the game show elements, audience interaction and an immense number of prop and set pieces dotted about the stage. Tana manages to seamlessly navigate these different sections, which is a real credit to her as a performer, and what might immediately appear as a completely genre-defying eclectic show is sewn together into something truly impactful.
This piece is as disarming as the concept suggests – but Tana acts consistently with care even though the audience interaction aspects might be too alienating for some. Catharsis is at the centre of this piece – coming to terms with the defining queer and neurodiverse experiences that make your life can be dramatically confronting. Tana makes a decent case to engage with her, and puts consent at the core of the audience interaction, though some parts of it do feel forced and will fluctuate depending on how much your particular audience are willing to commit to the emotional vulnerability Tana asks you to offer to engage deeply with this piece.
Beside those elements, the humour involved is done slickly, and Tana’s lack of self-pity and gearing towards liberation in the chaos of it all is refreshing. Plus, you won’t go too many shows where the performer does a lap dance with your personal trauma stuffed down their top.
Defiant and unconventional, Tana invites us on a date to dive deeper into an underrepresented intersection.
Recommended Drink: No need to worry, Tana will be offering you red wine in the show!
You can catch UnTethered until August 16th (not the 10th) at Fern Studio at Greenside @ George Street from 18:35 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
