“A haunting metaphor on the concept of human introspection through the scope of queer horror”
This year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival was host to The Remembering, an original play written and performed by U of O’s own, Billie Nell, a third-year student in linguistics. The Remembering contemplates conscious awareness of one’s self, after finding a tooth in a tomato garden springing a “chilling spiral into this trans, autistic reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” This play was a haunting metaphor for the concept of human introspection through the scope of queer horror.
This original piece stemmed from Nell’s background in slam and spoken word, and although this was Nell’s first full-length spoken word piece, it was an exceptionally brilliant portrayal of life through the lens of self-identity. Nell spoke about the biggest challenges when creating such a personal piece, saying of the process: “Translating poetry into a piece of theater and incorporating character was new to me, but I feel really inspired to continue exploring how theater and poetry can be weaved together.”
Nell’s biggest inspiration for their character was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. “I’ve read it many, many times and have always connected to the character of the Creature in particular. I wanted to explore this further by using Shelley’s characters and the themes of her novel to try and convey my experience of grief as it relates to trans identity and late autism diagnosis.”
Nell has always had a calling for creative creation; having competed in poetry slams since the age of 12, as well as a background in the drama program of Canterbury High School. “My time [there] was when I started to explore my love of drama and theater more and started to take acting more seriously.”
I went to the second-to-last performance of The Remembering and I absolutely loved it. On a completely sold-out show, Nell’s performance was something out of a science fiction storybook. Their scientist costume combined with the planting ground added an extra layer of eeriness to the story.
As they talked about body parts, identity, and transformations, they would plant, unplant, or play around with the dirt, and by the end of the play, Nell was covered in the dirt which symbolized a complete transformation. Nell mentioned playing with the dirt was their favourite part of the show, as they “felt like a kid again!”
The beautiful rhythm of speech patterns combined with the dark blue lighting hues and use of space gave this profound piece a certain flow, which made it easier for the audience to understand what was happening.
The use of language to describe out-of-body experiences intertwined with identity was insanely eye-catching, I was invested the entire time. “I am just a few feet far away” to describe never feeling like one’s body truly belonged to them was such a powerful metaphor for queer identity in this ever-changing world of unknowingness. One of my personal moments of this piece was towards the end. This modern twist to Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” was the perfect conclusion to this idea of identity.
Being one’s self is enough to be worthy of belonging, and while each individual struggles for a place in the world, it’s beautiful to think that by simply existing, we are already a part of something.
Billie Nell’s The Remembering was a work of art that deserves to be seen by all. The intense description of our consciousness and the experience of identity portrayed through gothic theater and spoken word was rather exemplary and I can’t wait to see what Nell does next!
