The circus invades the museum! Machine de Cirque is a Québec City-based circus company that packs high doses of dizzying feats, powerful emotions, poetry, intelligence and humour into its innovative and original circus shows.
Seven zany acrobats and an electrifying musician take in a monochrome exhibit. With a creative spark, they set off an explosion of color. In mocking defiance of convention, these wacky and endearing characters eagerly explore the exhibition inside out. Dizzying feats, astonishing discoveries, poetic liberties, and a serious dose of some silly good fun come together to fuel this ode to creativity. Enjoy this exhilarating feast for the senses. Experience La Galerie.
Thanks to our Performance Partner, Beaverbrook Art Gallery!
L’Aubergine is the oldest clowning company in Quebec to produce shows for young audiences, and has carved out a special niche by nurturing a unique artistic vision. In this clownesque fable about the strength of friendship, four artists fall asleep in a theatre waiting for their guests. To their surprise, the audience is already there when they wake up! The show begins, but things get all mixed up. Day-to-day life interferes with the performance and forces it down a new, unpredictable path.
For these four pals, time is a great travel companion that sparks their curiosity and sense of awe, and enhances their tremendous joy in being together. In their hands, everyday objects like musical instruments and masks become the tools for creating a wacky universe bordering on the absurd. Letting their imaginations run wild they dive into their eccentric world, bringing the audience along for the fantastical ride!
Suitable for ages 5- 12.
“Pay What You Will” is offered on select performances. Here’s how it works:
– You still need a ticket. Book your seats in advance at tickets.theplayhouse.ca, by calling our box office at 458-8344, or visiting us at 686 Queen Street.
– At the performance, we will provide an envelope and ask audience members to pay whatever amount they wish (based on their own individual experience) following the performance.
You decide the price of your tickets!
The objective of “Pay What You Will” is to increase access to our programs, and to encourage our patrons to take a chance on new and exciting performances.
The Afrique En Cirque show symbolizes the strength, agility and joy of life found in African youth. A handful of daring acrobats, accompanied by their musicians, perform to the pulsating rhythm of the djembes of Guinea with their authentic and original choreography and acrobatics.
With the melodious sound of the Kora, Yamoussa Bangoura transports us to a place where the diversity of traditional African arts are illuminated, and combined with the virtuosity of a modern North American Circus performance.
The Afrique En Cirque show symbolizes the strength, agility and joy of life found in African youth. A handful of daring acrobats, accompanied by their musicians, perform to the pulsating rhythm of the djembes of Guinea with their authentic and original choreography and acrobatics.
With the melodious sound of the Kora, Yamoussa Bangoura transports us to a place where the diversity of traditional African arts are illuminated, and combined with the virtuosity of a modern North American Circus performance.
The Afrique En Cirque show symbolizes the strength, agility and joy of life found in African youth. A handful of daring acrobats, accompanied by their musicians, perform to the pulsating rhythm of the djembes of Guinea with their authentic and original choreography and acrobatics.
With the melodious sound of the Kora, Yamoussa Bangoura transports us to a place where the diversity of traditional African arts are illuminated, and combined with the virtuosity of a modern North American Circus performance.
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a humourously dark folktale woven together with a high-energy concert. This Klezmer-folk music-theatre hybrid starring genre-bending sensation Ben Caplan is inspired by the true stories of two Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908. It’s about how to love after being broken by the horrors of war. It’s about refugees who get out before it’s too late, and those who get out after it’s too late. And it’s about looking into the eyes of God.
Old Stock has toured to 32 cities around the globe, and has been performed over 250 times, receiving many awards and accolades along the way including a Herald Angel Award, Edinburgh Fringe First, seven Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards, six Drama Desk nominations, and a New York Times Critics pick.
*Please be advised this performance contains strong language, has sexual content and is intended for mature audiences. Recommended for ages 13+
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a humourously dark folktale woven together with a high-energy concert. This Klezmer-folk music-theatre hybrid starring genre-bending sensation Ben Caplan is inspired by the true stories of two Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908. It’s about how to love after being broken by the horrors of war. It’s about refugees who get out before it’s too late, and those who get out after it’s too late. And it’s about looking into the eyes of God.
Old Stock has toured to 32 cities around the globe, and has been performed over 250 times, receiving many awards and accolades along the way including a Herald Angel Award, Edinburgh Fringe First, seven Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards, six Drama Desk nominations, and a New York Times Critics pick.
*Please be advised this performance contains strong language, has sexual content and is intended for mature audiences. Recommended for ages 13+
From award-winning director and choreographer Igor Dobrovolskiy, and multi-disciplinary artist Nipahtuwet Naka Wespahtuwet (Possesom) Paul (Wolastoqiyik, Sitansisk First Nation), Pisuwin is an epic first ever Wolastoq story-ballet set to the soaring music of Polaris Prize and Juno award-winning composer Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik, Neqotkuk First Nation).
Based on a Wolastoq tale, this multidisciplinary piece reflects on the current state of dis-ease in our world, illuminating a path to wholeness and rebalance. The project features eight dancers and blends indigenous storytelling and ballet, redefining this classical form for a diverse, savvy and contemporary audience. Electronic sound, industrial landscapes and digital projection, juxtaposed with Wolastoq visual motifs of the spiritual and natural world, create the indigenous cosmology within which the story takes place. “Why does the water no longer quench our thirst?” Pisuwin pushes us to confront our greed and alienation, while inspiring us to take a different path; one of connection, community and wholeness.
Between Breaths is a one-act play telling the true story of Dr. Jon Lien, well-known in Newfoundland as the Whale Man. Lien pioneered techniques for rescuing whales trapped in fishing nets. Often risking his very life in the water with the formidable and frightened animals, he would seek to earn their trust as much as the fishermen’s. His ability to free more than 500 whales, while doing as little damage to the fishing gear as possible, won the hard-earned respect of the fishermen. Despite his risky work, Lien’s biggest fight came at the hands of a lengthy illness. Before he passed away in 2010, his body was slowly conquered by immobility and dementia.
Between Breaths jumps time backwards, from the final moments of Lien’s life – in a wheelchair and dealing with brain damage – to his very first whale intervention. As his life becomes further and further confined, his mind stretches itself in memories of release and salvation.
