Review: OWEaDEBT (Summerhall)

Feathered fun with a crazy swan

You probably know that Swan Lake is a story that can be told in many different ways. Some versions have vengeful sorcerers, others evil stepmothers; some end tragically, others happily, and that is before we even think about the choreography. However, I bet you have never seen one quite like this. HEYwire Theatre’s OWEaDEBT, performed and created by Lauren Brady, is a clown parody of the classic story with a loveless, cigarette-guzzling, erratically horny Odette hoping to win your hearts and break her curse. Expect innuendos, desperation, and audience participation.

Brady’s Odette is the character embodiment of the flat-footed awkwardness of a ballerina walking in pointe shoes. She switches between a high-pitched, idealised ballerina while on pointe, and a deeper-voiced, giddier, messier version of herself off it. Her appearance has a ragged elegance, and her personality is essentially that with a bit of mania and a touch of the macabre thrown in. “Do you like my crown? It is made from feathers and tiny bones” she tells us sweetly. “These are my friends,” she says, before introducing us by name to a small collection of cigarette butts. It is an unusual and creative take on the character, but what sets OWEaDEBT apart is Brady herself. Her stage presence is completely unmatched. Her comic timing, her physicality, and all the little quirks she throws in from her flirtatious tutu twerks to her girly nasal honking, all make for clowning excellence.

Her performance reads Odette’s story through a feminist lens. The tragedy is not that she is betrayed and cannot find love, it is that she needs it in the first place, that she is defined by it just as she is defined by her rejection of Rothbart. Transfiguration becomes a metaphor for sexual violence, and her existence on the lake is something she is meant to be satisfied with because of how beautiful she looks against the scenery. Her pretty privilege and objectification are meant to be enough; meanwhile, everything weird about her is bursting from the seams. Odette is a very lost character, unable to determine what she wants. Brady doesn’t overplay this, instead letting her dogged pursuit of love tell us everything we need to know. The interaction asks a lot of the audience, but because her persona and her confidence are so strong it is a pleasure to step on stage and see what she has in store. On the night I attended there were only four people in the audience, something that would shake most solo performers. Instead, it was some of the most fun I have ever had at the theatre. Five stars.

OWEaDEBT will play at 19:25 in Summerhall until 11th of August