Five reasons to check out The WonderWombs
Credit to Author: Shawn Conner| Date: Wed, 08 Jan 2020 19:00:25 +0000
The WonderWombs
When: Jan. 14-19
Where: York Theatre
Tickets: from $26 at tickets.thecultch.com
1. You have to fight for the right (to feminist circus party). In what the media release describes as “a feminist circus party,” The WonderWombs features seven female and non-binary performers mixing aerials, acrobatics, burlesque, dance, spoken word, and performance art.
2. Toxic masculinity … not. The show features the performers in several vignettes, including one wherein that depicts what a reviewer describes as “stereotypical male macho behaviour in the gym.” Others include an “orchestrated orgasm” and an aerial pole dance “which elevates the form from a sleazy nightclub performance to a powerful demonstration of strength, artistry, and skill.”
3. It’s intersectional. By injecting feminist ideas into circus traditions, the performers reclaim many of those traditions. Ultimately, the show “is a positive performance experience for those who want something more from their theatre but who are sick of pretentious and high brow attempts to tackle the same topics and issues,” writes another reviewer.
4. Dust Palace. The show is a presentation of Dust Palace, a New Zealand company familiar to Cultch audiences for its circus interpretation of Christina Rossetti’s poem The Goblin Market. The company prides itself on fun, exhilarating shows with a quirky NZ sense of humour.
5. Femme Series. The WonderWombs is part of the Cultch’s fourth annual Femme Series. The series features productions and events that showcase what the arts organization calls “female-identifying voices and experiences … (using) an inclusive definition of femme, and includes all self-identifying female, trans, and non-binary folks.”