Half Girl/Half Face at Uno Fest May 2015.
In our increasingly digital and online world, it’s everyone’s worst nightmare. An innocuous comment taken out of context and amplified with disastrous consequences; the tweet sent out in a moment of frustration—backfiring and becoming conflated in a barrage of hateful replies; the private photo seized upon by a cyber-stalker or bully.
Being a teen is never easy, particularly it seems for girls, attuned to every nuance of wardrobe, body, voice and bearing. Socialized at a young age to question, and ill at ease at the best of times in their identity, our infatuation with one another has reached a fever pitch not yet experienced. If small town and high school gossip was bad—imagine it at a global scale. Of course, the horrific results can be seen in the-now-infamous cases of Rehtaeh Parsons and Amanda Todd.
Young Girl (Arlen Aguayo Stewart), for reasons that remain obscure, is famous, a cropped version of her face plastered all over the Internet. She’s gone viral, her face on T-shirts and coffee mugs. Determined to exert control in the only way she knows how, she decides to produce a video to confront the situation.
By turns perplexed, angry, vapid, baffled, questioning and conflicted she attempts to dissect how a simple and innocent photo at a teen pool party turned into an internet sensation, seemingly overnight.
Seated in front of the audience, with the video displayed on a giant screen behind her, Young Girl loses herself in reverie and speculation, then let’s loose a particularly sarcastic and truthful observation. It’s this back-and-forth, the conscious and unconscious musings that elevate Zoë Erwin Longstaff’s script into a modern day cri-du-coeur that shouts “pay attention”.
Half Girl/Half Face mines the ethos of generations raised on MTV, YouTube, and live-streams in its staging, and presents a departure for audiences most accustomed to performers speaking to them. This new way of making theatre represents a young vital voice—one that is perhaps unfamiliar, but very astute—engaging with the tools at hand. It would be a shame to disregard it because of discomfort. Gather up your pre-teens, teens and young adults—this show is speaking directly to their hearts, hopes and fears. As citizens, and perhaps elders, it behooves us to listen rather than dismiss and to become allies rather than detractors.
In a superbly conflicted moment, Young Girl reflects “The me I see in the meme is the me I want to be. I’m jealous of my own self”.
The same day Half Girl/Half Face debuted at Uno Fest, the following article appeared in the Vancouver Sun—Richmond Cyber Stalking Victim Fights Back. In a situation that eerily mirrors the premise of the play, Andrea Ng has found herself the victim of a person or persons, who she believes to be close to her, who have manipulated an innocent photo. Now, she’s gone on the offensive.
Thank you to Uno Fest’s curator, Intrepid Theatre’s Artistic Director, Janet Munsil, for programming a wide array of voices in this year’s festival.
Half Girl / Half Face
Surplus-Value Theatre (Toronto)
Written by Zoe Erwin Longstaff
Performed by Arlen Aguayo Stewart
60 minutes – multi-media, drama
Tickets $18 at Ticket Rocket online, in-person (#2-1609 Fisgard at Blanshard), and by phone 250 590 6291
Young Girl is astounded when she discovers that a cropped, up-close photo of her face has been turned into a meme that has gone viral on social media and the internet. Unable to reconcile the now-viral image with who she “really is,” she takes control the only way she knows how—through a YouTube response video.
“..timely and thought-provoking.” -The Coast
INTREPID THEATRE CLUB
Thur May 21, 6:30* (pay what you can)
Fri May 22, 6:30
Sat May 23, 5:15
Disclaimer: I was provided with a ticket to Half Girl/Half Face for the purpose of writing a review.
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