High Performance Rodeo is going radical
According to Kelly Reay, producer of the 32nd annual One Yellow Rabbit High Performance Rodeo, things are definitely going to get hot, slightly skewed and radical when the Rodeo launches in January.
From Jan. 8 through 28, the Rodeo will play host to 26 shows from as close as our own backyard to as far afield as Ireland, Italy and Australia.
These four weeks in January will offer a potpourri of music, dance, clowning, storytelling, audio-visual experiences, drama and comedy.
Among the marquee shows is Hot Brown Honey from Australia, which is described as a raucous mash-up of music, dance, burlesque and clowning.
“When they say raucous, they mean raucous. It’s six women from Australia who have built a show that includes songs, dance, clowns and circus acts. They use confetti cannons and trapezes and their subject matter is as challenging as it is entertaining,” said Reay, who is happy to announce that, during Hot Brown Honey run at the Theatre Junction Grand Jan. 3-6, there will be an extra 10:30 p.m. performance on Jan 5.
“This really is a late night kind of show. We’re predicting this performance will sell out so, if you want to catch it with its rowdiest Rodeo crowd, it’s advisable to book seats early.”
Another show that Reay says the Rodeo planning committee worked hard to book is Onegin, a big, high-spirited musical from Vancouver.
Tchaikovsky based his opera on the poem by the Russian poet Pushkin and now we have Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille’s sweeping romantic musical that has taken Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax by storm.
It stars Calgary alumnus Meg Roe and her husband, Alessandro Juliani, who wowed Calgary audiences when they teamed up for Alberta Theatre Projects’ Mary’s Wedding.
Onegin will play in the Max Bell Theatre from Jan. 5 to 13.
“We want as many people as possible to see this wonderful Canadian musical, which is why we have scheduled it for 10 performances. It’s certainly one of the biggest shows the Rodeo has ever hosted,” said Reay.
Raw, explosive and unapologetic is the only way Reay can describe Black Boys, a co-production from the newly established Saga Collectif company and Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times, the largest and longest-running queer theatre company in the world.
“Black Boys explores what it means to be black, male and queer in modern times. It couldn’t be more topical and we’re excited that its first engagement beyond Toronto will be at the Rodeo.”
The three performers — Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Tawiah Ben M’carthy and Thomas Olajide — “explain what it means for them to be a queer, black man in Toronto today.
“This show will definitely appeal to the Rodeo audience base that is looking for an adventurous, nontraditional theatre experience. We anticipate it will be a real hit at the Rodeo,” said Reay.
Black Boys will play at the DJD Dance Centre Jan. 23 to 26 at 8 p.m.
One of the least passive theatre experiences at the upcoming Rodeo will be Foreign Radical from Vancouver, which asks the audience to move about with the actors through four spaces at the West Village Theatre from Jan. 17 to 21.
"The show explores what secu- rity, freedom of expression and privacy mean in our world of cyber surveillance. The audience is restricted to 30 participants for each performance and they get to collaborate, investigate, gather evidence, debate and even spy on each other.”
Foreign Radical won the Critics Choice Award for Innovation in Vancouver in 2015 and the Edinburgh Fringe Fest Award in 2017.
The 2018 Rodeo is also presenting what it calls The Irish Suite, two shows from Dublin and one from Belfast. After playing the Rodeo, these shows will go to festivals in Vancouver.
Dublin Oldschool (in the Pumphouse Theatre Jan. 23 to 26 at 7:30 p.m.) is described as an Irish Trainspotting.
“What that means is it’s gritty, streetwise and urban. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart,” said Reay. “It’s a collection of spoken word and monologues that are frenetic and high energy and it plays.”
In the show I’m Not Here, also from Dublin, performer Doireann Coady comes to terms with her brother’s suicide.
“During Doireann’s mourning period, her father gave her a box of audio tapes she and her bother made growing up. These became the inspiration for this unorthodox piece of theatre,” promises Reay. It plays at the Pumphouse Theatre Jan. 17 to 20.
Reassembled, Slightly Askew, from Belfast is a truly unique experience in which Reay participated when it played in Toronto. It’s an audio play and only eight people can participate in each performance, lying in hospital beds, blindfolded but given earphones.
"Shannon Yee, who created the show, suffered a brain infection that put her into a coma. The show is a recreation of what she experienced. You hear her inner thoughts plus the voices of the doctors, her partner and her family members.
“It is one of the most unique experiences I’ve had in theatre and this is one you absolutely have to book in advance,” said Reay.
It will show at the St. Louis Hotel at various times from Jan. 5 to 13.
Reay used these shows to illus- trate how vital The High Performance Rodeo has become to the cultural landscape in Calgary.
“The Rodeo brings shows to Calgary that would probably never come otherwise. In its 32 years, it has become an important, enviable theatrical institution, not only in Calgary but in Canada.”
Tickets for all 26 shows are on sale now at hprodeo.ca, by phone at 403-294-9494 or at the main floor box office in the Arts Common at 225 8th Ave. S.E.
There are flex passes, four-bundle packs, group rates and special priced tickets for certain shows at hprodeo.ca/rodeo-on-a-budget.
They use confetti cannons and trapezes and their subject matter is as challenging as it is entertaining.