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THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT
September 14-21, 2000
BURNT TONGUE is a five-star performance. - Deborah Williams
There is nothing so funny, sad, and purely entertaining as a highly
skilled clown, and Shannan Calcutt is that, to be sure. Her charming,
radiant alter ego, Izzy, is so thoroughly developed she is unequivocally,
as she says, "prepared to be spontaneous" - no matter what the audience
may offer up. Every word that spills from Izzy's perpet ually mobile
rosebud lips is channelled from what must be an extensive '90's
new-age library. Sounding like Shakti Gawain on cocaine, the affirmations
fly relentlessly for 45 minutes, as Izzy attempts to validate her
thoughts, her quirks, and, most poignantly, her beauty. Leaping
between exaltation, desperation, anticipation, and indignation,
Izzy guides us through the most pathetically vulnerable human experience
- waiting for a blind date. Arriving for this first meeting with
a man met on-line, she wears a wedding dress, leaving little doubt
of her expectations. Calcutt's triumph is her pure, childlike honesty
and ingenious ability to reflect our own flaws and blemishes. By
the end of the show, Izzy certainly is a most beautiful woman. Burnt
Tongue is a five-star performance.
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