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The Cultch's New Season Has Something for Everyone

The East Van theatre’s winter-spring shows are alive with theatre, circus and comedy.

The Cultch 2 Jan 2023TheTyee.ca

A man holds a melting ice cream cone. He is standing against a bright orange-pink sky, full of puffy clouds.
Jacob Rajan stars in Paradise or the Impermanence of Ice Cream, playing this year at The Cultch. Photo by John McDermott, design by Oliver Rosser.

The Cultch has announced their “extraordinary, unexpected and totally East Van” winter-spring season, featuring world premieres from favourite local companies and visits by renowned national and renowned international artists.

This season includes 12 in-person shows from January to June 2023 and has something for everyone: musicals, circus, comedy, theatre and a Femme Festival filled with powerful feminist performance.

Ronnie Burkett and his beloved marionettes return to Vancouver this Jan. 10 to 29 with a brand-new show, Little Willy — a riotously funny, improvised, adults-only puppet show that reimagines Romeo and Juliet. Darren Cordeiro of Review Vancouver called Burkett’s last Vancouver show “a lifetime experience that anyone who has a flair for creativity and out-of-the-box theatre will surely not forget.” Christine Pilgrim of Vancouver Presents agreed: “It was more than good. To borrow the vernacular consistently used throughout this marionette show, it was fucking brilliant.”

Next, The Cultch partners with DanceHouse to welcome Sacre by the celebrated Australian ensemble Circa to the Vancouver Playhouse. Ten acrobats bring Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring to the stage in a fierce, gorgeous circus that explores humanity’s interconnectivity, inherent sexual desire and relationship with the divine. Sacre will “mesmerize you from the very beginning,” says Broadway World.

Starwalker, a new musical by Corey Payette, the creator of Children of God, comes to the York Theatre in February. The story follows an Indigi-Queer Two-Spirit drag queen learning the ropes of the East Van Drag community.

Things get wonderfully weird in March with My Little Tomato. This surreal rom-com about a lovesick farmer, his bar-star crush and some dirty rotten vegetables is produced by the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (the company that brought you Bad Parent) and Zee Zee Theatre (the company behind In My Day).

Next, from New Zealand, comes Paradise or the Impermanence of Ice Cream, a show about the impermanence of life, love and ice cream that features vultures, the afterlife and a dash of Bollywood disco.

The Cultch’s Femme Festival returns in April to highlight the strength and power of female-identifying voices. This year, the festival includes Raven, a contemporary circus performance about motherhood, by Germany’s still hungry, Stupid F*cking Bird by Vancouver’s own critically acclaimed the Search Party and Bird, a comedy by Kylie Vincent, a self-proclaimed gen Z trainwreck.

The Femme Festival continues in May with three works by boundary-breaking Vancouver artists: Ruby Slippers Theatre’s ūtszan (to make better); Body Parts by Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg; and New Age Attitudes: Live in Concert, by musician, theatre-maker and returning Panto star Amanda Sum.

The Cultch’s winter-spring season closes with Punctuate! Theatre’s First Métis Man of Odesa: a remarkable true story about love in the face of a pandemic and an invasion.

“Our winter-spring season is alive with stories,” says Heather Redfern, the organization’s executive director. “Stories told by puppets, comedians, circus moms and tomatoes. Diverse stories by visionary artists about the body, reclaiming language, letting go and taking back power; stories brought to life on stage through song, dance, aerial contortion and construction paper. Come and join us at The Cultch!”

For showtimes, tickets, and season subscriptions, visit The Cultch’s website.

Happy holidays, readers. Our comment threads will be closed from Friday, Dec. 23 until Tuesday, Jan. 3 to give our moderators a well-deserved break. See you in 2023! [Tyee]

Read more: Media

This article is part of a Tyee Presents initiative. Tyee Presents is the special sponsored content section within The Tyee where we highlight contests, events and other initiatives that are put on either by us or by our select partners. The Tyee does not and cannot vouch for or endorse products advertised on The Tyee. We choose our partners carefully and consciously, to fit with The Tyee’s reputation as B.C.’s Home for News, Culture and Solutions. Learn more about Tyee Presents.

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