WALRUS

This is a portrayal of feeling stuck between two worlds and trying to figure out where one belongs. Something many people could relate to. Kiana does an amazing job storytelling her journey of self discovery through museum visits. She’s funny, engaging and makes you feel like she’s have a conversation directly with you.

What happens when you move to a country to learn, in part, about that country and your attempts to learn about that country only reveal much more about other countries and, in fact, the way that your new adopted home has treated other countries through the years?

Much has been made over the years of institutions in Britain and ill-gotten exhibits, and whether the right thing to do is to return those exhibits to their countries of origin.

Kiana Wu puts a human face on this discussion in a well-crafted solo performance that traces her experience moving to the UK from Calgary and hoping to answer for herself some questions about her new home. Unfortunately, the places she looked are more chock full of artefacts from countries like Benin and Egypt and elsewhere.

This could be better with some humour, maybe. It just seemed to be an axe to grind on museums with items that were found by earlier explorers and now are in fact are being largely negotiated for repatriation. Even local items that are held and displayed are treated almost with contempt. Not nice.

Walking into this show I had two thoughts, 1. AHHHHH KIANA IS IN EDMONTON!!! 2. What's the "Walrus" all about?

Because, like any good fringer, I did no studying of the show what so ever before coming to see it.

But, after taking the time to listen to this one-woman play of curiosity of stole art and identity, I realized this shows title is a precise metaphor for the internal feelings of this wonderful performer caught between two worlds.

Having only met Kiana visiting the artist venues of Calgary and never seeing her perform before I was VERY impressed by her vocal talents (Not through singing but through dialects) and the sudden shifts of emotion conveyed just through her face.

One thing kept going through my head as the show went on, a line from the 2015 film Spotlight, "It takes an outsider..." when it comes to revealing the darker more nefarious sides of the institutions of our society and those across the pond as well.

And Kiana wisely makes the casual conversation piece of sharing her dual citizenship as a subtle laying of thematic tracking for us all to go on the journey with her of feeling like you yourself are on display, that you have been stolen and that you are some kind of treasure taken from another world.

Our audience was very fortunate that she shared her curious mind with us.

If there is one desire I had for this show, it would be more moments of soundscaping to give each space in our travel a unique sense of space.

There is one moment in particular that uses music to aid in the scene setting which makes me feel that there were moments in the technical development of the show when music was considered. The lighting cues brought us into tonal shifts, audio may be effective in creating the environments.

But even without added sounds, the audience was engaged and responded with laughter and verbal confirmations that what Kiana (and us as we joined her to see each stolen artifact) was a mark of colonialism - and, with Kiana as the leading point of curiosity, we all felt how these marks, when left on a person, leave deep scars.

Museums, Manors, and the Outdoors of Britain

Kiana Wu’s show WALRUS was a deep monologue about the explorations Wu experienced in Britain. Wu took the audience on a trip explaining the artwork and artifacts she saw when she explored the many places of history.

Her beautiful descriptions of each setting provided amazing imagery that made the audience feel like they were actually in the places. The way she would explain the sloped ceilings, textures, and artifacts from different countries created an amazing

Her perspective on the pieces told a magnificent story of the British people's history of stealing ideas from other people. I learnt a lot from her performance, and it gave me a new outlook on parts of history. Wu was very passionate in her performance, and I couldn’t look away.

Her blunt questions: “WTF?” “What is my legacy?” “How did we get here?,” really stuck with me throughout the performance. Wu did a beautiful presentation of meaningful subjects that I will not soon forget.

I was really looking forward to watching this show because I can relate to the subject matter. She is so talented and skilled in storytelling. I could visualize the entire museum as she walked us through it and described it in such great detail. I felt validated for my own feelings towards the British (thank you for that, haha). The feelings and thoughts of "what are we doing here?" "what is my legacy?" stuck with me after leaving the show. It was deeply emotional but also quirky. I really appreciated her ability to grasp my attention for the full 45 minutes.