The Abyss Burrow - Fragments of a Life

The Abyss Burrow is a one-woman show that takes you through the walls of a well into the memories a young woman’s life. Through music, interpretive dance and monologue, writer and performer, Vanessa Quesnelle weaves together a great piece of theatre.

Quesnelle’s dancing is spectacular and energizing to watch. Her interpretation of space and time is creative and seamless. Though a one-woman show, her dancing brings another character on stage, and not the addressed characters from her strong monologue performances, but rather another embodied being entirely. It’s wonderful.

As for story, the audience is tossed through snippets of this young woman’s life. Memories of TV reruns... bike rides... camping trips... and while the stories are ungrounded they still capture our attention, pulling us in deeper and deeper until we can finally piece the stories together.

Though the ending does shed a light on everything, the light may shine too brightly. The play loses its compelling mystery as if the main character has woken up and said, “It was all but a dream!” Of course it’s not as gratuitous as that. It’s only that throughout, The Abyss Burrow trusts its audience with an uncertainty and mystery and it’s that trust and Quesnelle’s talent that makes the play a compelling piece of theatre. The revealing ending takes some of that trust away.