AWKWARD HUG - VAN FRINGE 2018 - THEATRE ADDICTS VANCOUVER

AWKWARD HUG - VAN FRINGE 2018

14/9/2018

Cory Thibert received a standing ovation from the audience after his hour long show at The Cultch, a venue that he manages to fill with his presence and his storytelling. Through the seemingly simple story of his parents needing to move house, he is able to give us glimpses into his life and his parent's life and to make us reflect on the systems in place for treating people that society think are different.

The main lesson to take away from his story is how little our society cares about the smaller people. While I mean this to mean that people that aren't considered the 'norm' are overlooked and neglected, I also thought this was most prevalent in the story of the mouse. People should not be allowed to buy pets spontaneously without being prepared for them, having researched their needs. There must be a better way to stop this from happening. Those animals are completely reliant on us. Age is not an excuse for being ignorant of how to look after animals and if you cannot continue to look after one, then don't put it out in the wild to die. Find someone who can.

The mouse story definitely overshadowed the whole show for me and I found it is the thing I think back on the most after the show. The audience audibly had reactions to the story of how teachers treated his mother at school but nobody seemed to have a reaction to him putting his mouse in -20 degree weather to die. I definitely feel this should make us think more about how pet stores enable this lack of responsibility and don't ensure potential owners are prepared enough.

The show I saw had an ASL interpreter which I thought was a wonderful addition to the show. However not all the shows have this. You'll definitely enjoy this show and completely drawn in to his charisma.

~ reviewed by Ferne Brown

6 Comments

Cory Thibert

16/9/2018 12:39:03

Hello,

Thanks for the thoughtful review of AWKWARD HUG.
Just one clarification, the -20 weather was the weather that my parents were left outside in by the Para Transpo. The mouse was not released into -20 weather.

I'm glad the show raised questions about pet stores and people's responsibilities for you. Age isn't the only contributing factor, we hope that specific story (irresponsible and shameful as many of my characters actions/reactions are) reinforces the themes of lack of communication, intimacy and general irresponsibility, inaction, and not knowing what the proper thing to do is.

We are happy you picked up on the weight of the story. All stories are there for a reason and we hope that one aids in illustrating the lack of autonomy I felt I had and how I made many big decisions knowing I wasn't capable of dealing with the weight of them.

We are adamantly against any form of animal cruelty, and hope that telling these stories speaks to the dumb and uninformed decisions that all of us make as young people, to one extent or another.

Happy to talk about it more if you would like,

All the best,
Cory Thibert

Ferne Brown

17/9/2018 18:11:45

Hi Cory
Thanks for the lovely response to this little 'layman's' review.
I think you illustrated the weight of the story perfectly, done through such a seemingly simple event as moving house. As Brieanna said below the story of the priest not wanting to marry your parents really hit a vein for many people.
I have since been reading stories of people in the U.S that claim disability benefits that literally cannot marry without losing all or most of their benefits. This makes my skin crawl and makes me wonder what the situation in Canada is in that regard. You don't see enough people fighting that fight, which is heartbreaking.

Animal cruelty is a HUGE kettle of fish with so many overwhelming components. Although that story elicited a strong response in me I also admired that you didn't hide away from the fact that you had made these mistakes and included it in the story.
Once we take an animal into our homes as pets, we are entirely responsible for every aspect of its life and the lack of prior knowledge and responsibility so many people have is something that clearly needs to be tackled aggressively in the pet industry.
I've worked in animal shelters in about 6 or 7 countries and it's always the same story. Pets are so often momentary entertainment vessels bought in a spontaneous desire. We had an influx of rats when the movie Ratatouille came out. We always have more rabbits around Easter and puppies at Christmas etc etc.

So much of this lack of responsibility lies on parents or elders teaching kids from a very young age not to respect animals. I've seen kids hit dogs with bats, swing bunnies by their ears, one girl swinging her pet cat by the rope that was tied around its neck-a rope tied to the wall in the little shop that had clearly never been untied- while the parents chuckle at their 'adorable' demon children. (I cut that rope attached to the cat, stuffed it under my shirt and ran.)

There's just so much that needs to change.
So when I hear a story like that my blood just turns cold from years of being hardened.
I think most people will feel the depth of the other such important issues that you raised and hopefully will spark important, necessary conversations, but very few will talk about the mouse story, so I felt it needed to be highlighted. :)

22/2/2019 14:46:08

Sorry for the late response, I'm used to notifications in this day and age.

I'm sorry to hear about your personal experiences that you've dealt with in terms of animal cruelty, we never want anything to be triggering. I know it's frustrating, it is a shameful thing I have done, we hope that the story does have an impact and we hope that conversations will be had after the show, so thank you for highlighting this aspect that some people may ignore it or which may seem insignificant to some people.

Thanks again for your thoughtfulness, sorry to upset you!

-Cory

Brieanna

17/9/2018 08:20:42

I loved this performance!
As someone who works with children with developmental, behavioural, and academic differences this play really spoke to me. For me the stand out part was the anger at the priest who didn’t want to marry his mother and father. I see this type of discrimination in small ways all of the time, and it boils my blood!
Beautiful performance very well executed.

17/9/2018 18:17:22

I agree, that priest story was definitely blood curdling. I loved his idea of the hell that priest is probably in. I wish.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show too despite having strong reactions to the mouse story. :)

22/2/2019 14:47:08

Thank you so much, I'm happy you enjoyed and connected to the show. Also shared in the anger that moments in life offer sometimes. Thanks for your thoughtfulness!

AWKWARD HUG - VAN FRINGE 2018

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