Cowboy Mouth is a 1971 play, written and performed by Sam Shepard (as Slim) and Patti Smith (as Cavale) about two distraught lovers hanging on to a dream that may or may not be real.
While watching, I wondered if the whole play was a dream or if both characters were just high on drugs and not able to control the shift between reality and imagination. It confuses the audience which draws you in further to the delusion of the two characters.
Slim, played by Toronto musician Jason Collett, is a struggling rock and roll star wannabe clinging on to a dream he knows he will never achieve. Having run away from his wife and child in search of past hopes, he discovers that he cannot go back.
The storyteller Cavale, played by Founder of Heart in Hand Jessica Huras, guides Slim and the audience through the journey of self-discovery. As she tells the stories of her namesake “Cavale” and how he ended his life, we garner insight into the mind of a charismatic lunatic.
The play is littered with symbolism, as is the one-bedroom stage setup, and only at the end does the audience truly discover the thread that binds the story together. Though the writing was well crafted the addition of Jason Collett’s original score added to the rawness and better related the “rock star” goals of Slim to the audience.
Cowboy Mouth runs nightly at 8pm in the charming back room of The Cameron House (408 Queen Street West) until closing night February 14th with a special Valentine’s performance and after party for donors. All tickets can be purchased through Heart in Hand’s website at www.heartinhandtheatre.com or at Brown Paper Tickets
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