Riotously funny and triumphantly grandiose, Cirque Alfonse will delight young and old alike with Animal!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Riotously funny and triumphantly grandiose, Cirque Alfonse will delight young and old alike with Animal!
“Animal by Cirque Alfonse is wonderfully bonkers from the start… after the prancing pony dancing, ridiculously high pole work, seesaw somersaults and a bucking bronco, I’m not quite sure where in the world I’ve been. It all makes wonderful sense.” – UK Theatre Web
“A circus reconnecting with its roots” – Le Journal de Montréal
“A real treat for the spectators” – Huffington Post
“Ridiculous, unadulterated fun” – The Stage
“Cirque Alfonse have turned traditional circus upside down” - ThreeWeeks Edinburgh
VERNON, BC— Calves, cows, pigs and chickens… Cirque Alfonse’ Animal is an imaginary menagerie with delightful displays of acrobatic prowess and bold theatricality.
Part of this SPOTLIGHT Season’s “Special Presentations” series, the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre Society presents a bucolic spectacle for young and old with Animal: A Farm Story, at 7:00pm, Thursday, September 29.
Animal is the farm gone haywire! Cirque Alfonse takes us on a journey of discovery through a series of slightly surreal farm fables served up with a touch of irreverence, impressive physical virtuosity and the company’s familiar comic touch. In this re-invented agricultural world, a gentleman farmer has surrounded himself with some familiar but slightly outlandish creatures: the chickens have teeth, the ducks are somewhat menacing, and the cows are always kicking up a fuss. Acrobats transform into singers, dancers, and puppeteers, scaling mast poles and leaping from the mechanical bull – with no nets in sight.
“The action is driven by original live music performed by a French-Canadian folk band,” said VDPAC’s Artistic Director Erin Kennedy. “It’s an irresistible mixture of banjo, drums and brass the group calls ‘agricultural funk!’”
The company, made up of the Carabinier-Lépine family and friends, gets its name from Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez, their hometown in the Quebec’s Lanaudière region. Québec culture is central to each Cirque Alfonse creation as the troupe draws on national folklore for themes, adding unique modern twists. They are known to fashion unusual acrobatic contraptions out of tools and materials found on their real-life family farm – the inspiration at the heart of
Animal.
The Cirque Alfonse clan has captured the hearts around the world with their lumberjack-themed show Timber! which performed to a sold-out crowd at the VDPAC in 2016. After having toured the globe several times and experiencing worldwide acclaim, the troupe returns to Vernon on the heels of a highly anticipated and immensely successful run at the Edinburg Fringe Festival where they were named “Pick of the Programme” (one of the ten shows not-to-be-missed) by New York City’s global theatre news website Broadway World.
“The founding members of Cirque Alfonse have worked with some of the most renowned nouveau cirque companies around the world, but they remain true to themselves as a genuine, multi-generational family circus,” said Kennedy. “You can expect technical mastery paired with warm, authentic charm and infectious humour.”
Cirque Alfonse performs Animal: A Farm Story at the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre on Thursday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $50 for adults, $47 for seniors, and $45 for students. Subscribers can save by bundling Animal into a “Pick 5” or “Pick 10” season subscription package. To purchase tickets please call 250-549-SHOW (7469) and visit our 2022-23 SPOTLIGHT Season online at: www.vdpac.ca.
The creation and touring of Animal was made possible by the financial support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts.
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About Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre
The Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Society is a non-profit, charitable organization devoted to fostering artists, their work, and live performance in all genres and for all ages. The Society operates the Performing Arts Centre’s (VDPAC) on behalf of the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) and with the support of over 200 volunteers. Each year, we present our SPOTLIGHT Season of diverse performances, complemented by over 125 concerts, festivals, and special events. We select professional touring productions to entertain, enlighten, move and amuse our patrons. Altogether, they offer audiences of all ages a world of unforgettable live theatre experiences. Please visit: https://vdpac.ca/ & https://ticketseller.ca/
Facebook: @vdpac
Instagram: @vernonperformingarts
For more information, media can contact:
Angela Hendry
Marketing Director
250-542-9335
