Solo Dark Comedy OWEaDEBT Coming to Adelaide Fringe for its World Premiere 

Award Winning Canadian Creator Lauren Brady is presenting OWEaDEBT, a ballet dark comedy show done on pointe at Adelaide Fringe from February 16th-21st, in the Star Theatre Two at Star Theatre. The event's kick-off is February 16th at 9:00 pm; OWEaDEBT is funded by the Adelaide Fringe Media Fund. 

OWEaDEBT is a 50-minute solo dark comedy exploring classical ballet (pointe), clown, and bouffon. Inspired by the Odette from the classical ballet of Swan Lake, a girl who was cursed to be a swan and kills herself because she never received an oath of undying love. OWEaDEBT presents a different version of Odette, who didn't kill herself at the ballet's end but stayed trapped in this world, still searching for her oath of undying love. Odette is now a chain-smoking half-swan, a half-ballerina creature suffering from amnesia and stuck in limbo because she has yet to find her hero. Odette leads the audience through the show as she invites them to interact/play with her at the lake and help her look for a hero in the audience. She takes the audience through her great love story of being turned into a swan, being hunted by a prince and going to the ball, where her life changes forever. Odette aims to find a man in the audience to give her an oath of undying love by the show's end, or she will be trapped as a swan forever.

Odette's transformations make the audience ask, do I change myself for a romantic partner and amplifies the reality that our society is still stuck in the patriarchy when it comes to viewing women in society. “My goal is to present Odette in a highly comedic manner, with language that allows the audience to laugh, reflect, and walk away with the sense that they do not need to be loved by a romantic partner to feel "complete," said Brady. Brady continued, “Acknowledging our failures as a society is difficult; human beings are naturally self-protective and weary of criticism." OWEaDEBT aims to create a conversation that addresses everyone's fears regarding romantic love and makes the sensitive content more palatable through comedy.

The OWEaDEBT team consists of both emerging and professional artists. OWEaDEBT was designed as a learning opportunity to gain further knowledge from Michael Kennard (Member of Mump & Smoot) who acted as the project's clown, bouffon, and director mentor. The emerging artists consist of the Director Meegan Sweet, Sound Designer Autumn Strom, and Lauren Brady as the Creator and Performer. 

Show and Ticket Details: 

Dates: February 16th-21th 

Location: Star Theatre Two – Star Theatre – Adelaide Fringe Festival (145 Sir Donald Bradman Dr, Hilton SA 5033, Australia)

Purchase tickets at: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/oweadebt-af2024 

Lauren Brady is an award-winning creator and has created solo work since 2020 in various festivals, including Edmonton & Ottawa Fringe Festival, One Yellow Rabbits High Performance Rodeo, Fluid Festival, Nextfest Festival, Play the Fool, FORM Vancouver Film Festival, Skirts A Fire, and Calgary Common Clown Festival. She is known for her multimedia approach to interdisciplinary theatre by combining projection, dance, clown, and other theatre practices.  

Lauren is a recent alumnus of the University of Alberta's BFA in Acting Program. She has developed her clown process through research, workshops and mentorship from Michael Kennard. In 2021, Lauren received a Canada Council Grant to pursue clown training with John Turner, Karen Hines, and Michael Kennard (The Mump & Smoot team). Lauren has also studied clowning with Fraser Hooper, Jan Henderson and Christine Lesiak. 

Adelaide Fringe is a world-renowned, annual arts festival that celebrates culture, place and artists from across the globe. Bringing 6,000+ independent artists far and wide to South Australia, Adelaide Fringe is a destination for culture seekers in search for a hive of activity. For more than 60 years, Fringe's innovative and inclusive approach as an open-access arts festival has made it a hub for emerging talent and a destination for established artists from around the world. Among the audiences at Adelaide Fringe are hundreds of industry professionals from around the world, scouting for shows to book for future touring. This makes Adelaide Fringe a thriving marketplace for artists and a public facing festival.

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