![]() It may be entertaining, but when history is shown out of context, we are unable to see how it has affected us this is The Scavenger’s Daughter’s flaw. Josh Johnston and Samantha Brown in The Scavenger’s Daughter. However, being the only woman on stage highlights Sarah as further endorsing the commodification of female sexuality and insinuates an unfortunate justification of toxic masculinity. When her mother dies in relation to the heroin crisis Ash is involved in, Sarah’s role develops as she inherits operation of the local brothel. The proposition to marry into a wealthy family means citizenship and the privileges of literacy, but it also means that Jack must betray his beloved Sarah (Samantha Brown), a local in the nearby town. But when Jack is given the chance for freedom, he is forced to question more than just his loyalty to Ash. Both orphan soldiers, bonded by a warzone upbringing, they long for civilian status. While I champion a dialogue that seeks the root of toxic masculinity, this show restricts its own potential and fails to deliver its message.Ĭomprised of historical anecdotes and directed by Ted Witzel, this hodgepodge plot follows Jack (Josh Johnston) and Ash (Conor Wylie) as they complicate love, heritage, and Imperial duty with the complexities of socially ingrained masculinity. The Scavenger’s Daughter, positioned as the trilogy’s centrepiece, was created to reflect on how male intimacy and aggression are cultivated in the face of Imperialism. The Empire, created by Susanna Fournier, is a trilogy of performances which narrate moments within a fictive universe’s history. ![]() Intertwined with excessive displays of sexism, classism, heteronormativity, militarism, and toxic masculinity, this production’s crassness is undoubtedly intentional, questionably satirical, and simply just offensive.Ĭarlos Gonzalez-Vio in The Scavenger’s Daughter. With an overwhelming use of bright lights, loud noises, foul language, and firearms, the production elements in this piece are used so frivolously it invalidates their purpose. ![]() The Scavenger’s Daughter shocks the senses with engaging and jarring Rated R content, though it is generally unclear as to why. This performance made me uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons. If you feel you know masculinity, or if you feel you don’t, you could use this lesson from Fournier and Witzel. The Scavenger’s Daughter is a brilliant example of leading with a subject, and driving it home to everyone who enters the room. The play asks the question: is this really what masculinity must be? Can we teach ourselves, our friends, and our sons, another way? As a male spectator, this chance for young and old men alike to see what is so often invisible has the utmost value. The play takes the time to examine the root of the problem, rather than blame the symptom. ![]() The Scavenger’s Daughter presents masculinity to us as it is formed we watch the teaching happen. Paired with the gas mask, Jack’s nakedness is presented as a strange or dangerous thing, a message that doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the show.Ĭonor Wylie and John Johnston in The Scavenger’s Daughter. The nudity feels somewhat unnecessary, however, and makes this important show less accessible to audience members who might find this triggering. This suspense is heightened as Jack emerges from a pile of dirt wearing only a gas mask. Director Ted Witzel builds an atmosphere that holds the audience in suspense. The audience enters through a roll-up door that shuts suddenly and loudly as the show begins. The sound design (Ben McCarthy) and projection design (Wesley McKenzie) tell a story that surrounds you as though you were in the middle of war. The story is told through narrative projection, and characters’ direct narration. Jack learns to fight, read, be free, and be a man. The protagonist Jack (Josh Johnston) is molded by the war, by his friend Ash (Conor Wylie), by Cook, by his superior Webb (Carlos González-Vio), by his fiancée’s family, and by brothel owner Sarah (Samantha Brown), each teaching him their version of masculinity. In The Scavenger’s Daughter, playwright Susanna Fournier explores masculinity in a morphine-, sex-, friendship-, and cannibalism-fuelled war story. Christopher Stanton and Samantha Brown in The Scavenger’s Daughter.
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