The discovery of a tooth in a tomato garden begins a chilling spiral into this trans, autistic reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This new work of contemporary, queer horror by acclaimed spoken word artist, Billie Nell, melds Gothic fiction, theatre, and poetry in an excavation of late autism diagnosis and interrogation of what one finds when you hold a shovel to your own stomach…
This show contains themes of gender dysphoria, depression, and mental health trauma as it relates to autistic masking. There are discussions of amputation and the use of phantom limb as a metaphor. There is some gory literary imagery and descriptions of acts such as dismemberment.
Praise for Nell in GCTC’s Forever Young: A Ghetto Story
“standout performance” Ottawa Citizen
“Billie Nell was outstanding in the role of Joshua … [Their] performance was phenomenal … [they] are a genuine artist and expert in [their] craft” Covert Ottawa Guy
“[a] passionate, heartfelt performance” Broadway World Ottawa
“Nell elevated Joshua to be one of the most unique characters out of the cast” The Charlatan
Created and performed by: Billie Nell
Director: Ludmylla Reis
Stage manager: Kat Brett
Set designer: Patrice-Ann Forbes
Costume designer: Vanessa Imeson
Sound designer: Charlotte Stewart-Juby
Illustration: Shawn Philip Hunsdale
Special thanks to Deborah James and Lilies’ Guilt Productions for creative collaboration and script development.
*June 21st Reduced Capacity performance
*Masking required for this production.
Fringe Review: The Remembering – Eve Beauchamp, Apartment 613
I loved this! I felt so much of Billie’s emotion through their performance. Your performance was powerful. Thank you for sharing your story
Nell set an impossibly high bar for Fringe when I saw The Remembering as my first show this year.
Solo shows are a hard sell, but Nell brought intensity and skill to a sharp edge in this show. They shared trans and neurodivergent experiences with the backdrop of a story we can reasonably look at as part of the cultural backdrop, bringing a shared language to something so many people don’t understand, and doing it in an emotional, powerful way.
I can’t ignore that the set piece is a second character in and of itself, and is used beautifully to ground the entire performance. The minimal nature of Fringe is rarely used as well as Nell used it here.
Beautifully, beautifully done.
This is the most powerful show I have seen this fringe. It is unsettling, dark, and well told. I absolutely loved this show. Please go see this, everyone show experience this type of storytelling and THIS is the perfect example of what a solo performance can look like. Spectacular.