Maiden Voyage
Maiden Voyage is an experimental ritual-act that weaves together music, spell-craft and spoken word; invoking reckoning, resistance and repair. Maiden Voyage is a true story told-through-poetry, about teenage vulnerability, grit, and breaking curses.
One hallmark of art is its ability to evoke feeling; whether that be unyielding joy, harrowing sadness, or some ineffable boiling in your gut is entirely up to the creator’s choice. Maigan van der Giessen’s Maiden Voyage exemplifies this quality to the utmost degree.
Through spoken word poetry, entrancing layered vocals, and careful rituals, van der Giessen expresses deep vulnerability whilst highlighting struggles regarding houselessness for indigenous and non-indigenous individuals alike. In the intimate theater, Maigan’s scalpel-sharp words are completely invigorating, like a whisper to your soul— she creates an atmosphere that allows for deep introspection as the production unveils itself. Van der Giessen is undoubtedly a well rounded artist as her use of movement, music, tone, and silence are all tailored to create a completely unique home where her themes thrive.
This is a heavy show. If you are seeking a light-hearted, jolly time, I would not point you towards Maiden Voyage. However, if the absorption of intelligent and emotionally rich poetry and a reckoning of your presupposed beliefs regarding property are your cup of tea, absolutely see the show. Maigan presents such incredible political and emotional lane of thought that are impossible to not ponder on the way home— this show and its contents will stick with you well past its end. Even experienced passively without an intense investment in the precise meaning of the poem’s metaphors, Maiden Voyage will deliver a feeling without a name, an impression on your heart.
What Maigan van der Giessen has created with Maiden Voyage is entirely unique. For any fringe-goers specifically seeking intellectual discussion or desire the sheer power art can hold, I cannot recommend Maiden Voyage enough!