Chix On Stix
Chix On Stix are Mortal Coil's popular stilt dancing characters. These stunning costumes and highly visual performances have thrilled festival audiences for over a decade. These festive, larger-than-life images bring magic to any festival, celebration or parade – they create a sense of the spectacular at any special event. The Chix On Stix characters are designed to work well with live music and have performed with such bands as La Bottine Souriante, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Tarika, Danu and many others. Check out the Chix Characters.
The Ghost Train & Bright Nights
The Ghost Train and Bright Nights are two highly popular events held annually at the Stanley Park Miniature Train site in downtown Vancouver during the months of October and December. Mortal Coil has developed, and continues to develop inventive and entertaining artistic installations and live performances for these events. As the audience rides the Miniature Train through the deep dark woods they come upon many exciting, startling, and beautiful surprises.
Stanley Park Hallowe'en Ghost Train
October 8th - October 31st, 2010 6 - 10 pm nightly
Bright Nights in Stanley Park
November 28th, 2010 to January 1st, 2011 3-10 pm daily (Closed Christmas Day)
"The most spectacular lighting festival in all of Canada." - Vancouver Sun
The Britannia Project
Mortal Coil's next project, currently in development, is a site specific work at the Britannia Shipyards in the Steveston area of south Richmond. Reuniting the artistic team of Peter Hall (Director) and Nicola Harwood (Playwright), the play is set in and around the historic Britannia Heritage Shipyards and utilizes the production elements explored and developed in the company's last full scale project, Letters from Lithuania.
This compelling and vibrant piece of theatre explores issues of immigration, ethnic conflict, labour history and memory and will be presented at the Britannia Shipyards in August of 2011. With the evocative and historic site as the inspiration, Mortal Coil is bringing together some of Vancouver's leading artists to explore the stories that live in the very planks of the Boardwalk, the waterfront's main street in the early 20th Century. This unique and living piece of theatre will integrate youth and members of the extensive diverse community in Richmond, led by Mortal Coil's community artist Sharon Bayly in collaboration with the Diversity and Youth officers of the City of Richmond.
Among the many sites whose stories are being explored are: the Britannia cannery built in 1899 and converted to a shipyard in 1918; the Murakami family house, built in 1885 and occupied by them from 1929 until the internment in 1942; the purpose built structures that serviced the immigrant populations that worked at the Shipyards and a 1932 Boat works. And amongst the buildings we will meet the other inhabitants of the site: from the eagle, salmon and bear who first lived there to the rum running daredevils that used the riverfront during the Prohibition period.
Over the years Mortal Coil has been engaged in an ongoing exploration of theatrical scale in both its indoor and outdoor productions. The use of stilts, puppets, music, masks and actors to tell stories will, as in Letters from Lithuania, bring this play to compelling life.
We look forward to seeing you there!
