Fringe show 'Gander Euphoria' celebrates queer joy with geese
The Lighter Touch Art Collective's comedic play runs at LabO through June 28, with audience participation, camp energy, and standing ovations from a nearly sold-out crowd.
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A white goose visits Ottawa from Alberta for their first experience in a gay club — and the city's queer community has embraced the premise wholeheartedly.
"Gander Euphoria: A Pretty Gay Goose Play," created and produced by The Lighter Touch Art Collective, opened to a nearly sold-out crowd of predominantly queer audiences. The show follows Emby, a nervous and excited goose meeting two local Canada Geese who guide them through the club's role in the community, fluid identities, and queer history.
The narrative weaves between performance and direct audience engagement. Performers speak into the crowd, take casual surveys, ask for volunteers, and enlist help from the first and second rows — especially during a planned protest against police trying to shut down the club. There are appearances by a character version of Mayor Bark Sutcliffe, an attempted arson, and plenty of shenanigans.
The show occasionally feels disjointed, moving between narrative performance, audience interaction, and queer history facts in ways that read closer to improv than scripted theatre by the midway point. It wasn't entirely clear why the characters are geese (beyond a follow-up to the collective's previous hit "A Sexy Pigeon Show"), and some dialogue felt rushed.
But the energy compensates. Sarah Ivanco's performance as the aggressive Canada Goose Goostave was a standout — loose-limbed and commanding, she read the crowd clearly. The nearly sold-out audience laughed continuously, and the energy stayed high and positive throughout.
The show is decidedly by and for the queer crowd, with queer references and taboo terms thrown around freely, encouraging the audience to lean into camp and celebrate their own gayness.
"Gander Euphoria" plays at LabO until June 28. All performances require a face mask for audience members. Tickets are $14 plus service fees, available online, at the Fringe box office (67 Nicholas St), and at two satellite locations (Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue and La Nouvelle Scène, 333 King Edward Ave). Five and ten show passes are also available.