An all ages romp from the city and into the wild. When a bear wanders down from the mountains and into the city, the poles of wilderness and civilization are flipped, and young Jo is forced to navigate the city as a ‘wild human’ – spooking unsuspecting animals and outrunning agitated mobs of vertebrates – in order to get back home. It is through her interactions and encounters with other ‘civilized animals’ (raccoons, coyotes, mice, crows) that Jo learns what it means ‘to be human’ – the fact of our essential dependence on one another and our collective dependence upon nature.
All My Friends Are Animals is a show that examines our western colonial tendency to set Man apart from Nature and Mind apart from Body. Through a rich language of metaphor, it takes aims at Western European myths of individualism and technological independence.
To bring to life the surreal vision of Jo's journey, Babelle will be working with puppets and shadow puppets designed by award-winning master puppeteer Jeny Cassady. Speaking about her approach for this production, director Marie Farsi says “For the past several weeks James and I have been working in collaboration with the other designers in order to create a visually rich storytelling experience.” Playwright James King adds, “The possibilities are enormous for puppetry – it can be very literal but it can also become very impressionistic, and I think we’re interested in finding the balance between the two.”
Sept 18-23, 2018
The Russian Hall (600 Campbell Ave)
50 min. Ages 10+
School Performances: Tuesday through Friday - 10:30am and 1:30pm
Public Performances: Saturday and Sunday - 11am and 2pm
Tickets available at Eventbrite