life with more cowbell

I first saw Vancouver’s Mind of a Snail perform Against Gravity two years ago at SummerWorks – and loved it – so I was excited to see that they were coming to Toronto Fringe this year to perform Curious Contagious in the Factory Theatre Mainspace. I caught their opening show yesterday afternoon. Mind of a Snail is Jessica Gabriel and Chloe Ziner.

Curious Contagious is a surreal, fable-inspired tale of a virus’s journey through a unicorn’s body. *SPOILER ALERT* Unicorn dreams of building a Donut Palace and just as the dream appears to be realized, construction is delayed when Unicorn contracts a puzzling illness after being bitten by an Amphibian on the build site. The virus’s life inside Unicorn is almost a play within the play, and includes entertaining narration courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood Arrow. Unicorn visits the Doctor, but traditional medicine cannot stop the virus, so the Doctor must resort to surgery – and Unicorn loses its horn. In an interesting moment of discovery, Amphibian introduces Unicorn to a mysterious, shaman-like Creature who lives underground at the building site and who now has possession of Unicorn’s horn. The Creature strikes a bargain with Unicorn to give the horn back – and the Unicorn must choose between its dream of building a business and its most beloved body part.

A beautiful and inspiring piece of visual storytelling, Curious Contagious uses shadow puppetry, live action movement and original music; and is suitable for all ages and accessible for non-English speakers. Gabriel and Ziner’s work is innovative and engaging, featuring quirky fun performances and mad puppetry skills. Part art, part theatre and part infotainment, it’s a thought-provoking commentary on viral illness and environmental responsibility.

Delightful fable-inspired storytelling with an environmentally friendly sensibility in magical, thoughtful Curious Contagious.

Curious Contagious continues at the Factory Theatre Mainspace until July 9. For ticket info and advance tickets/passes, check out the Fringe website.