REVIEW: The Song of Lip and Tarantula, Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation, EdFringe 2026 ★★★★★

Divinely queer, effortlessly heartfelt and beautifully written, The Song of Lip and Tarantula is not to be missed. 

As you enter the space, you are greeted by Lip, who hands you a doll (one of her children) and invites you downstairs into the theatre for dinner. The Song of Lip and Tarantula follows the events leading up to a dinner party we are invited to. Lip excitedly prepares for all twenty-six of her children to join her for a Shabbat dinner, though as she prepares, she recalls her past, and we learn that this dinner is not to meet with her children, but instead to bring them, and her trans sister Tarantula, back to life…

The Song of Lip and Tarantula explores chosen families and codependency unlike any show I’ve seen before; it is comforting, but also haunting and exposing. Lip, played by Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation, is the perfect unreliable narrator, luring you in to a false sense of security with her maternal love, before showing that what she really feels is dependence.

Aviva’s performance reflects the harrowing experience of burdening the ones you love, then falling apart without them. Tarantula, played by Airen Guevara, switches from sharply choreographed, puppet-like movements to the raw reality of her trans existence.

The show is raw and real while remaining whimsical and funny. Director Kelley-Marie Van Dilla has moulded these characters from a gorgeous script to create a show that is visually delightful despite the restraints of the venue. 

Where the show truly shone was through its representation of queer identity, specifically highlighting the experience of being inherently too queer to ever fit in. Tarantula endeavours to fit in with heteronormative society by marrying a cis man, moving away from Brooklyn and her chosen family, and becoming the white-picket-fence feminine ideal. Lip is left behind, too much of an outsider to fit in with the life that Tarantula has built. 

Using a CD player adorned in flowers and choreographing around this demonstrated their skill at adapting to any technical environment, with sound design recorded onto a CD which they could switch on and off as if it was seamlessly part of the narrative.

There is so much more that is to be celebrated about this show, but to truly appreciate it, you must see it. It is a work of art. 

The Song of Lip and Tarantula is an outstandingly beautiful show with so much room still to grow, and I for one will be following it every step of the way.

Recommended Drink: A Kosher Wine, to share with your chosen family.

Catch The Song of Lip and Tarantula at PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms from August 13-30 at 18:45 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.