Heavenly Bodies
Michelle Palansky | CBC News | Posted: July 17, 2016 1:59 PM | Last Updated: July 17, 2016
THREE STARS | Heavenly Bodies is like a bruise you cannot help but touch: it aches in such a compelling way
Rating: ★★★
Company: Bad Weirdo Co., Winnipeg
Genre: Play — Dramedy
Venue: 5 — Son of Warehouse
Heavenly Bodies is like a bruise you cannot help but touch. It aches in such a compelling way.
Told in the language of poetry and myth, Gislina Patterson unravels the story of a 16-year-old girl who flirts with disaster and pays a terrible price in blood.
She explores the overwhelming desire of teenage sexuality, the seesaws of power between older men and younger girls, and violence against women as a contagion that trickles down through the the generations.
It's an old story told in a fresh way through the shifting perspectives of the girl, the man, her mother, and shadow puppets. (I don't think you're allowed to do a Fringe show without shadow puppets.)
Heavenly Bodies is beautiful but exhausting. - Michelle Palansky
Heavenly Bodies is beautiful but exhausting. The overworked images of trees, and constellations, and bodies of water overwhelm. The sharp punk wit that introduces the show is sorely missed. Like overindulging in sweets, Heavenly Bodies cloys a bit in the end.