Past Shows

Letters from Lithuania

Directed by Peter Hall and Joanna Garfinkel

Written by Nicola Harwood

Original Concept by Bessie Wapp

August 21-31, 2008, 7:30 pm

Stanley Park Miniature Train, Vancouver

Letters From Lithuania was the adult, outdoor, site specific interdisciplinary performance production about family history and displacement.  This work was set aboard the miniature train in Stanley Park, and combined Mortal Coil's grand scale of theatrical practice with the Eastern European musical repertoire of vocal ensemble Zeelia.

In this production, the audience travelled by train and by foot through a surreal forest of secrets and memories. Through theatre, song cycle, puppetry and stilt work, the show unfolded the remarkable true story of how one man’s fear kept news of survivors of World War II sealed in envelopes and unread for 20 years, and what eventually transpired to reunite the family.

The theatrical techniques explored in this moving and complex production will be further explored in Mortal Coil's next production, The Britannia Project, set in the the historic Britannia Heritage Shipyards in Steveston, Richmond. See photos of this site specific work.

 

The Treemendous Journey

The coastal forest is an ecology of vast, ancient trees, filled with mysterious sounds. Alicia set out into this world to follow a small green frog she has rescued from the screeching tires of a truck. When she arrives at the edge of the forest, she magically shrinks to the size of her companion frog and is introduced to the secret life of the forest, where storms and adventures brew up suddenly and unexpectedly. Alicia journeys from the gray flatland of her city into the world of the senses. Small insects tower over her, trees seem to go on forever and frogs sing rainforest songs.

The Treemendous Journey is a full-length show using humor, theatrics, enormous imaginative costumes, stilt dance, vocals and percussion to bring the forest to life.

Lava and Bones

Puppetry stilt dance and song bring geological events to life as two characters travel back in time in search of a dinosaur. Along the way they see an exciting volcano dance on stilts and roller-blading "rocky" players giving tectonic body checks.