Circus version of Swan Lake touches down at Meridian Arts Centre
iPhoto caption: Photo by Pia Johnson.
This week, TO Live will present Circa’s Duck Pond, a circus reimagining of Swan Lake.
Blending cheeky humour with impressive physicality, Duck Pond is created by Circa artistic director Yaron Lifschitz and 10 of the Australia-based company’s esteemed ensemble members.
It features haute couture costumes by Libby McDonnell, music by Jethro Woodward (with help from Tchaikovsky), and lighting by Alexander Berlage.
This Toronto engagement is part of a cross-Canada tour. After its run at Meridian Arts Centre (from January 30 to February 1), Duck Pond will play TOHU in Montreal (from February 5 to 9) and Le Diamant in Quebec City (from February 13 to 15).
“Ballet, fairy tale, and circus lovers alike will be transfixed as Duck Pond draws upon the worlds of Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling, as well as a variety of different acrobatic languages — from the seductive burlesque Black Swan to the clowning of the sequin-flippered Duck Army,” said Lifschitz in a press release.
Duck Pond runs at Meridian Arts Centre from January 30 to February 1. Tickets are available here.
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s senior editor. He lives in Toronto. His Substack newsletter is available at loamdonovan.substack.com.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Two men hold an Equity banner in 1997. Photo courtesy of Equity.
“Live performance is so special because it challenges perspectives. It's inclusive. It's an economic engine. It knits us together as a society, and I think that we have to remember the value of it,” says Equity executive director Alex Levine.
iPhoto caption: Eric Woolfe in 'The Call Centre of Cthulhu.' Photo by Jack Woolfe.
REVIEW: In Eldritch’s puppet-packed Call Centre of Cthulhu, coincidence signals apocalyptic doom
It's a campy-as-ever blend of puppets, character voices, and card tricks — a dose of classic Eldritch excess, timed to the Halloween season.
iPhoto caption: The Lula Lounge in Toronto. Photo by Sam Gaetz.
At events across the country, Canadian Actors’ Equity Association celebrates 50 years
Equity represents nearly 6,000 professional artists working in opera, English-language theatre, and dance nationwide, advocating for fair wages, safe working conditions, and more.
iPhoto caption: Karen Robinson in 'Prophetess.' Photo by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: In Tarragon’s outstanding Prophetess, language is both mighty and inadequate
Margaret’s facility with text helps her maneuver through an institution like York University, where words hold significant power. But the brilliant middle-aged scholar finds herself surprisingly unequipped to process the true sense of more elemental forces: love, grief, spiders.
iPhoto caption: 'Documents Perform 3.' Photo by T Photo Factory.
Joining online from across the Americas, more than a dozen artists, artistic producers, cultural leaders, and policymakers add live suggestions to the document, together transforming stuffy bureaucratic language into a rowdy patchwork of compassionate imagining.
iPhoto caption: Stratford's Tom Patterson Theatre. Photo by Ann Baggley.
2027 highlights include a new Canadian Jacob Two-Two musical and two of the Bard’s thornier plays: The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew.
Comments