Marla Torgerson’s one woman show Sinner is the story of her upbringing in an all white Evangelical community in Alberta and her subsequent break with that upbringing. It’s a succinct and very funny exposition of what this particular brand of Xians expect of girls; i.e. that they grow up hard working, unquestioningly obedient, slim but not too sexy, “pure”, ready to marry too young to know what they are missing.

She takes us on a tour of how a highly selective use of scripture bolsters an entirely male controlled and male focussed hierarchy with a narrowly constructed niche for females to conform to. Home (bullying father, obsessed mother), school and, ultimately, Bible College all work to exclude any kind of alternative perspective. It’s only when ahe travels to Korea and leaves small town Alberta behind that alternatives become apparent and, finally, compelling.

She tells the story with humour and sensitivity and a fair bit of entirely justifiable anger backed up by quite amusing projections. I particularly like the ending where, after millenia, one female fish decides there must be more to life than the ocean and decides to transition to dry land. The initial chorus of disapproval from the female fish dies down as one by one the more adventurous follow suit while the male fish burble insults about disobedience, promiscuity etc. What will it take for a male fish to realise that he too is constrained and manipulated?

It’s a musical of sorts so the spoken routine is interspersed with songs somewhere on the spectrum from singer-songwriter to rock. In the first half of the show it’s Maria accompanying herself on guitar or keyboards and while it’s not really my cup of tea it’s OK. In the second half she’s accompanied by two electric guitars, drum kit and back up singers. It’s really, really loud and I was very glad I’d accepted the offer of earplugs at the door.

So, I didn’t enjoy the music but I loved the rest of the show. Sinner continues at Theatre Passe Muraille as part of the Fringe until July 11th.