Photo of Nina Arsenault by David Hawe.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
The Silicone Diaries
Created and performed by Nina Arsenault
Directed by Brendan Healy
Dramaturgy by Judith Rudakoff
November 14-22 @ Buddies
By Kerry Freek
Nina Arsenault is fishy.
As she slinks onto the stage, squirming and gyrating like a feline Barbarella, the audience is drawn to her hyper-feminine figure, perfected with over sixty cosmetic surgeries and suitably wrapped in a plastic tube dress.
In tranny terms, she explains, “fishy” means to excel at being a woman. But Arsenault is something beyond an ideal version of a woman. She looks like a living, breathing mannequin.
She begins the Diaries by recounting her childhood in Beamsville, Ontario. A group of young boys burn holes in the eyes of the women in girlie magazines. They tear up the pictures, and Arsenault, as a young boy, watches the shreds fall to the ground, thinking “these aren’t women; they are goddesses.” The Diaries become the narrative of her struggle — how to restructure these torn pieces of herself into her ideal form, a Venus, or “a superhero drawing of my body.”
Remarkable legs, hair, and makeup aside, Arsenault has a captivating presence that is complemented by a well-written, intelligent script. She’s an expert flirt, navigating her stories of self-actualization — including bouts with internet porn, black market injections, and surgeries gone wrong — with flair and temperance. One particular tale stands out — a triumphant (yet Ativan-hazed) moment involving rocker Tommy Lee. In this scene, Arsenault is at once confident, crumpled, and classy, and it makes for great theatre and a very human moment.
Unfortunately, while her timing is pretty decent throughout, Arsenault fumbles a few times, losing her momentum here and there. To her credit, it doesn’t take long to lull the audience back under her long-lashed gaze. She has a great sense of storytelling and she understands that the show’s success lies in its relatability. Everyone, tranny or homo or straight or black or white, has at one time or another struggled with identity and self acceptance. Arsenault commands attention without overacting, and, even in her most confident moments, maintains a sense of humility — that’s her real power. Despite her see-through dress, cartoonish breasts, and fishy, silicone-pumped hips, she is one of us.
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[...] here for more MONDO coverage of Nina Arsenault’s work. addthis_url = [...]
[...] Arsenault, a transgendered writer and performer, opened her remount (see last year’s review here) of The Silicone Diaries last week at Buddies in Bad Times. The play consists mostly of Arsenault [...]