Qjinti Barrios

“Our Lady of Wayward Sissies is an intelligent, well executed cross-genre (and cross/gender) piece.”

Indeed. But it is not even what really matters!

The core of this deeply moving play is the genuine ingenuity of its main character: Sissy (the Queen, not the Empress). I met them today at Soulpepper and let me tell you about them.

Sissy is a clown: to them, everything is pure, simple and tasty. They are neither cynical nor furious. They are not your exuberant June-Pride-Queen. They have child’s eyes open to the world. The clown - with their wide and expanded feelings - is the perfect character to reveal the sincerity of this human caught in a world that would not bend like they do.

But Sissy is not an idiot either. They understand, they remember, they see through. They are just too pure to choose to lie to survive. It seems that, to them, it is not even an option.

“They are a fighter then!”, I hear you say. “The Che Guevara of the fishnet stockings!” Well, they are not. They are not posing, there is no stance or intellectual posture here. Their farting body is as hart felt as their swearing. This gender-bender is not faking it. They are natural and clear: no fainting, no faux-cils, no faux-semblants.

Are they a victim, or rather, a survivor? Could be. Maybe Sissy is a martyr… but it is not for me to say.

Anycow, nothing I write here could say more or better than the poetry of their last scene… So go and feel for yourself!