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It's me, Only Better!
Liz Nicholls - Edmonton Journal
Friday, August 24, 2001
* * * * Four Stars
Izzy in a tizzy, hungry for love and confidence
Shannan Calcutt easily prevails over 'penal colony' venue
Izzy is back. And she's up against her toughest challenge yet. It's not the Catholic sisterhood she's planning to join. The scowling nun whose portrait hangs over Izzy like the
guillotine is the least of her problems. No, I refer to the brutal conditions under which
Shannan Calcutt's wonderful show happens. BYOV B is a church gymnasium. Theatrically
speaking, it's penance central. Full of mosquitoes. No lighting but fluorescent strips.
No risers. Tin-can echoes that make your ears tired straining to hears Izzy's high-pitched
nasal voice (you try wearing a red nose and see what happens to your plummy CBC tones).
Here's a true miracle, then. The endearing Izzy, poised nervously on the edge of total
meltdown, manages to prevail over penal colony conditions and captivate her audience
again, enlisting them in the endless quest to find love and confidence. "How do I look?"
she asks us, a bright hopeful cupcake in a party dress with an inflatable survivor vest. "I'm
just checking. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to look." No one answers. "Like, you can all talk. It's not television. Like, I'm totally real up here."
Edmonton audiences got introduced to Izzy in Burnt Tongue, as she arrived for a blind date trying desperately not to look too desperate, but wearing a wedding dress. What followed, as Izzy waited ( and waited and waited...) for the guy to arrive, was a teetery architecture of mounting anxiety that the audience helped shore up. With this new installment, it's clear that our Izzy has been stood up a few times since then. "You're not going to believe this,
but I've experienced a lot of rejection."
All those self-help manuals weren't for nothing. Izzy recognizes her born talent for following. She recalls following a cute guy home from the mall, for example. Hence her decision to become a nun. And she has a willing guy from the audience up onstage to practise confession. "Forgive me, Gary, for I have sinned."
Will there be an answer for Izzy in religion, or will God turn out to be just another guy
who doesn't notice her? It's a funny, tense little show that will have you clutching your
beads and praying for more.
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