ON STAGE
What: A Wonderheads Christmas Carol
Where: McPherson Playhouse, 3 Centennial Square
When: Tuesday, Dec. 17 (7:30 p.m.) and Wednesday, Dec. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Tickets: $34.75 ($26.75) from the Royal McPherson box office, by phone at 250-386-6121, or rmts.bc.ca
Note: A Wonderheads Christmas Carol will also be performed Dec. 12 at the Tidemark Theatre in Campbell River, Dec. 14 at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre in Duncan and Dec. 15 at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo.
When Andrew Phoenix and Kate Braidwood, co-creators of Victoria鈥檚 Wonderheads Theatre, are asked to explain the inspiration behind the company鈥檚 signature full-face masks, both laugh. It鈥檚 a question they鈥檝e had a hard time answering many times before.
Wonderheads Theatre calls to mind the physical theatre of clowns and mimes, along with Victorian-era melodrama and Italian commedia dell鈥檃rte. The range of influences grows with each production 鈥� Braidwood and Phoenix are now incorporating puppets of their own creation into their dialogue-free performances.
鈥淲e latched on to the idea of mixing a couple of different mask styles together to make this cartoonish thing,鈥� Phoenix says.
鈥淚t was a mash-up of larval masks, which are very large and bulbous, with more character full-face masks. I鈥檝e always been interested in silent film and short cartoons that are based on the visual aspect, not words.鈥�
Braidwood says it鈥檚 tricky to sum up in one sentence what inspired the masks. 鈥淚t does have European roots, but there are also elements of Kabuki [a traditional form of Japanese theatre] in there as well.鈥�
The papier-m芒ch茅 masks created by Braidwood take cues from clay sculpture, along with the larval masks pioneered by French theatre icon Jacques Lecoq, who took his inspiration from carnival masks made popular decades earlier in Switzerland.
Phoenix and Braidwood cite a range of reference points, from the Pixar film Up and Jim Henson鈥檚 Muppets to Japanese animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki.
Performances by Wonderheads Theatre, including A Wonderheads Christmas Carol, which had its world premi猫re Dec. 3 in Courtenay, have drawn raves since the couple founded the company 10 years ago. They have been refining their approach in the years since, to the point where the performance and production quality is through the roof.
The husband-and-wife team of Phoenix (who plays Bob Cratchit and Mr. Fezziwig in their retelling of the Charles Dickens classic) and Braidwood (as Ebenezer Scrooge) tries to ensure the production appeals to theatregoers of all ages and faculties.
Not surprisingly, it鈥檚 their biggest production to date, both in terms of the size of the travelling caravan and number of performances.
They have already performed in Courtenay and Salt Spring Island, and are set to begin another series of dates on 91原创 Island today at the Tidemark Theatre in Campbell River (the Island trek concludes next week with performances Tuesday and Wednesday at the McPherson Playhouse).
The amount of gear needed to stage A Wonderheads Christmas Carol 鈥� which also includes puppets up to 12 feet in height 鈥� requires the couple to tow a U-Haul trailer behind their SUV, followed by another vehicle carrying stage manager Carolyn Moon and additional performer Jessica Hickman.
It鈥檚 a relatively skeleton crew for such a big performance, Phoenix says. 鈥淭he choreography and orchestration backstage is a whole other element the audience doesn鈥檛 get to see. There鈥檚 20 characters, including 14 masks and six puppets. It鈥檚 the most full show we鈥檝e ever done. This feels like a cast of 20. When we put the mask on our face, that鈥檚 only one element. The physicality for Kate as Scrooge, who is hunched over all the time, it takes a toll on your body.鈥�
The couple鈥檚 brand of theatre unique has roots in Northern California鈥檚 Dell鈥橝rte International School of Physical Theatre, where they met. They were based in Portland, Oregon, until three years ago, when they made the move to Victoria.
They were familiar with the city before the move, having earned several awards at the Victoria Fringe Festival for their previous productions, The Wilds, Grim and Fischer, LOON and The Middle of Everywhere.
Relocating to 91原创 Island has been a boon for their creativity 鈥� Braidwood credits the Greater Victoria theatre community with inspiring A Wonderheads Christmas Carol and The Wilds, both of which were created in Victoria.
鈥淚 went to the University of Victoria and the city has always felt like a home for me,鈥� says Braidwood, who was born in 91原创.
鈥淚t was a natural fit for us. It has felt like home really quickly.鈥�
Phoenix, who went to school in Texas, and Braidwood will tour several productions next year 鈥� Grim and Fischer in Atlantic Canada and The Wilds in the Okanagan-Kootenay area. Extensive touring in Canada is planned for 2020, which could be the company鈥檚 biggest year to date in terms of exposure, according to Phoenix.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always spent a lot of our time in the 91原创 Northwest and in Western Canada. We鈥檝e never reached out much further than that, so we鈥檙e the opposite of most companies and artists who branch out as far as they can go. We鈥檝e realigned our thoughts to become a 91原创 company, so that we can reach as much of the country as possible. That was a purposeful thing on our part, rather than to continue trying to do the cross-border thing.鈥�
