Playwright-performer S.E. Grummett is bringing ‘queer silliness’ to this year’s Next Stage Theatre Festival
To allegorize the trans experience, theatre artist S.E. Grummett, also known as Grumms, decided to turn themselves into a squid. Or, in their words: “a giant squid monster with tentacle penises.”
Told through live video, puppetry, and clown, Grumms’ semi-autobiographical solo show Something in the Water wields your typical monster transformation plot as a metaphor for coming out as transgender. It’s a “satirical way of looking at the way we talk about trans identities, trans bodies, and trans people,” Grumms told me over Zoom. In a world that paints trans people as monsters, Something in the Water attempts to reclaim the queer experience of otherness through laughter and joy.
With three years and over 100 performances under its belt, the show has wowed audiences from Australia and Sweden to the United Kingdom and the United States. Its next stop is Toronto’s Next Stage Theatre Festival, which runs from October 18 to 29 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
The Saskatoon-born creator emphasizes how special it feels to finally bring the show to Toronto. “Anywhere in the world right now needs a little bit more queer joy and queer silliness,” Grumms said. “I’m really excited to… introduce myself, my work, and the aesthetics to the theatre scene here in Toronto, which I don’t know very well.”
“I come from the prairies, where [queerness] is not something that we really ever see on stage,” they explained. “If we are seeing it on stage, it’s from a family’s perspective… it’s not queer people telling our own stories. It’s not trans people telling our own stories.”
Grumms began developing the show when they were about a year into their gender journey. It was only after the pandemic halted the creation process and they returned to the play that they felt more grounded in their identity: “I knew who I was so much more. And as I’ve continued to tour the show over these three years, I know who I am even more.”
This accrued confidence plays an integral role in Grumms’ ability to adapt the show for audiences of varying ages. A family-friendly performance of Something in the Water is slated to play during Next Stage on October 22nd. When asked about this version, the creator laughed. “This is always a question that comes up when I say tentacle penises. They’re like, ‘but a kids version?’”
Grumms’ choice to program these modified shows was inspired by conversations with queer organizations and advocacy groups around the globe. When they approached associations and asked if they knew anyone who would be interested in the show, the answer was always the same: “We have a youth group from ages 12 to 16 who’d love to come see it!”
Recognizing this undeniable need for queer representation in youth programming, Grumms collaborated with artists skilled in theatre for young audiences to craft a version that would be suitable for younger attendees. Instead of the more phallic imagery in the original script, this version pokes fun at the squid’s other body parts. “All [of the] sexual content in the show is pared down,” Grumms assured. “So don’t worry, parents!”
Despite its dampening of certain design and text elements, the family-friendly version of Something in the Water still addresses gender identity head-on. Grumms expressed how important it is for “young people to hear stories about coming out and being trans,” particularly for those growing up in an environment where queerness is stigmatized.
“It certainly wasn’t a thing that I heard about until I was an adult,” they recalled. “I think that’s why I came out so much later in life.”
By making theatre like this available to audiences of all generations, we ensure that young queer people feel seen, safe, and empowered in their identities, while also “educat[ing] and creat[ing] meaningful change” for audience members who have perhaps never met a trans person before, said Grumms.
Now, you may still be thinking: “Why a squid?”
To that, Grumms replied: “If we can all laugh at how ridiculous it is that my squid monster is expected to put on a dress and high heels and try and get into the women’s bathroom, then we can all understand that it also feels ridiculous for me, a trans person, to have to present as an assigned gender I no longer identify with.”
Something in the Water, produced by Scantily Glad Theatre, runs at Next Stage Theatre Festival from October 19 to 28. You can learn more about the production here.
Eve Beauchamp
Eve Beauchamp (they/them) is an award-winning Ottawa theatre artist, playwright, and graduate of the BFA in acting at the University of Ottawa. They are the co-artistic director of Levity Theatre Company and primarily create work that explores queerness, capitalism, and neurodivergence through movement, humour, and poetry. Currently, you can find them working on their new play la•bel (being produced this November) and trying to learn how to crochet new clothes.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Tom Wilson and Sheldon Elter face each other at rehearsals for Beautiful Scars. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
In a new musical by Lee Harvey Osmond’s Tom Wilson, one Indigenous icon honours another
Beautiful Scars, adapted by Wilson and co-creator Shaun Smyth from Wilson’s 2017 memoir of the same name, tells the story of Wilson’s journey from a lonely childhood on the East Hamilton Mountain to a celebrated career as a multidisciplinary artist and three-time Juno-award-winning musician.
iPhoto caption: Original photos by Kendra Epik.
With its Spring Double Bill, Toronto Dance Theatre centres community and new voices
For the Spring Double Bill, artistic director Andrew Tay is considering how programming can be a means of supporting emerging artists.
The curious case of the embedded critic
Intermission's senior editor Aisling Murphy reflects on her time as an embedded critic with the cast and creative team of The Exhale, a new play by Lisa Alves about polyamory, queerness¦and air conditioners.
iPhoto caption: Cliff Cardinal plays a gig at Mahtay Cafe in St. Catharines, ON. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
How Cliff Cardinal found his inner rock star
What I'm finding out through the beauty of music is that there are things we can't talk about, says Cardinal. But through our relationship with a rock star, we can experience those things in a more real way. We can experience them communally.
iPhoto caption: Headshot by Dahlia Katz, background courtesy of Soulpepper Theatre
Soulpepper digs into Nigerian history with Canadian premiere of Inua Ellams’ Three Sisters
“I started to wonder what it is that I'm interested in saying. How do I see the world? What is my voice for? And the first thing that came to mind was African stories,” says actor Amaka Umeh.
iPhoto caption: Photo of Brendan Healy by Dahlia Katz.
In Canadian Stage’s latest project, Brendan Healy ponders his own queer inheritance
“So much of the conversation around AIDS is around absence and what we lost,” says Canadian Stage artistic director Brendan Healy. “But we haven’t lost everybody. There are survivors and there are people who are living with HIV, thriving. [The Inheritance] is a space for an audience, for a society, to just be with presence.”
iPhoto caption: Courtesy of Ottawa Fringe
undercurrents festival brings two world premieres to Ottawa this February
Produced by the Ottawa Fringe to showcase contemporary work from local and national creators, the festival is a label-defying feast of the freshest theatre Canada has to offer.
REVIEW: GCTC’s Benevolence transports audiences to the dark humour of small-town Quebec
Benevolence is a great example of GCTC’s strengths as a company; it is moving, polished, and enjoyable for just about anyone.
The Supine Cobbler is an abortion play that ‘negotiates integrity in a lawless world’ at GCTC
“This play is really interesting, because whatever you think it is, it's not going to be that," says actor Maryse Fernandes.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen.
REVIEW: Hamlet at A Company of Fools (Ottawa)
The Fools’ Hamlet is queer just as much as it is comedic; not by nature, but by clever choice.
Comments