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Something in the Water
Summerhall (Cairns Lecture Theatre
August 3 – 28 (not 15, 22), 8pm
When Grumms transforms into a squid monster (think Creature from the Black Lagoon meets The Muppets), they must hide their secret identity and disguise as a ‘normal human woman’. Cartoonish chaos ensues and only through being themselves can they become the hero they’ve always wanted to be.
Stunning video projections, puppetry and physical comedy combine in this absurd exploration of identity, gender and growing up ‘normal’. Inspired by performer/creator S.E. Grummett’s experience coming out as transgender, Something in the Water parodies the masculine and feminine and shows how absurd our rigid gender binaries can be. As a giant squid, Grumms can playfully demonstrate what it’s like trying to pass as either male or female or find the freedom to exist as something else entirely.
What is your history with puppetry, and how did you become inspired by puppetry as a medium?
I grew up as a Sesame Street kid, so I've always loved with puppets. They just have the ability to transcend performance in a really interesting way. We as an audience have the amazing ability to fall in love with a hunk of clay, or a mess of foam, or (in the case of Something in the Water) tiny paper drawings.
Puppets were also a big part of my gender journey. I was touring with a children's puppet show across Canada and it was the first time I was able to perform different genders. Before this, I felt very disconnected from the gendered roles I was cast in. But with puppets, I got to become other genders, animals, inanimate objects. And I realized I wasn't trapped in this gender I was assigned at birth, that didn't feel right. And I could be something else if I wanted to.
In terms of exploring gender identity, do puppets provide any particular perspective on the debate?
In my work, I'm interested in queering the form: how can puppetry, mask and object theatre can move us beyond the performer's body and the assumed gender of its attributes. Puppets don't have to have a gender, let alone be human.
I'm also curious about using puppetry to explore this "othering" of queer and trans bodies - which is something I explore in Something in the Water.
Why did you go for a giant squid?
Funny story: the show was first created through an artist residency at the Lookout Arts Quarry in Washington. On our first day together, my collaborator, Deanna Fleysher (of Butt Kapinski) gave me a homework assignment of drawing my dream genitals. I returned the next day with something that resembled a giant squid: 5 long tenticley penises and a hole, with a beak.
I love the ocean and I'm fascinated by it. Only a smart part of the ocean has been explored and discovered- and I think it's the same with gender: who knows what other possibilities are out there? And, like gender identities beyond the binary, the ocean has been around since time immemorial.
How important is the multiple media dramaturgy? Does it reflect on the narrative?
It's so hard to look at the show by sitting down with a script. The live feed elements, puppets, audience interactive moments are as integral to the storytelling as the lines I say.
I'm so grateful to get to work with some very smart people who are experts in visual storytelling and physical theatre, like Mind of a Snail, a queer shadow puppet duo from Vancouver. They really helped me break down a puppetry moment and work the minutiae of each and every detail. And my director, Deanna Fleysher of Butt Kapinski, who works a lot with audience interaction. She really helped me get very specific with the language, physicality and how to set up these moments. These are all parts of the dramaturgy, of the writing of the show.
Multi-media performance, like Something in the Water, also tests you as a theatre maker: one minute I'm designing stop-motion videos, the next I'm sewing miniature squid tentacles. But I love it and it's why I love doing Fringe.
And inevitably: what made you decide to come to the fringe?
Edinburgh Fringe has been a dream of mine since I was in college.
I've been touring the North American Fringe circuit for the last 5 years, which is a very different (and much smaller) beast. But it's helped me find my voice as an artist, and figure out the kind of work I wanted to make.
And then we did Adelaide with Something in the Water in 2021, which was the biggest festival I’d ever done. And I definitely felt like a tiny fish in a big ol’ pond. But it went as well as it possibly good : we sold out our season and won the Best Theatre award for the festival.
So, Edinburgh was naturally the next step for the show, and for me as an artist. It’s going to be challenging, I’m sure, but I can’t wait.
I'd love for Edinburgh to help take this show into the mainstream, as a platform for transgender and queer stories. I think it's so important right now for us to see empowering queer stories, ones that can make us laugh and help us feel seen.
With the perfect balance of absurdist physical comedy and vulnerable self-exploration, the show weaves a touching story of acceptance that anyone can relate to. With a mix of humour and pathos, Something in the Water shares the experience of moving through the world in a trans-body, providing a unique perspective about the gender diverse experience in an interesting, empowering and accessible way.
S.E. Grummett comments: Through self-creation, I’ve been able to explore genres and styles that were often overlooked in my training and tell stories I believe need to be seen on the stage. I created Something in the Water to explore my own gender journey and to empower fellow queerdo-weirdos that might be watching, waiting for their time in the spotlight. While I have been independently producing for the past five years, Something in the Water very much feels
like my creative coming-out, as it explores such a personal experience and challenges me as a theatre maker. I’m excited to put it in front of more people, to play, make them laugh and inspire them to challenge their own perceptions of ‘normal’.
By Gareth K Vile
Something in the Water won Best Theatre at the Adelaide Fringe 2021 and is part of Spotlight Canada at the Edinburgh Fringe.
