You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video.
© Alejandro Santiago

Declarations

Jordan Tannahill

Hundreds of short phrases reverberate through all aspects of existence. And five actors, night after night, improvise and embody them.

Details

His theatre is fuelled by the unexpected, the unattainable and playfulness, and has launched him at warp speed onto the international stage. At 32, the Canadian artist Jordan Tannahill is a force to be reckoned with. His first visit to the FTA involves an impossible quest: portraying the hurly-burly of the elusive sensations, images and impressions that make up a lifetime.

Heading home aboard an aircraft shortly after learning that his mother had an incurable cancer, Tannahill wrote in one go hundreds of declarative phrases: This is my left hand / This is an empty promise / This is a broken condom. A bewitching theatrical device is activated by five actors improvising and embodying those statements in a fascinating ballet. What is life? What is death? An archive of the senseless abundance of existence in the form of a declaration of love to a dearly departed mother.

Credits

Produced by Canadian Stage
Written and directed by Jordan Tannahill
Performed by Robert Abubo + Danielle Baskerville + Jennifer Dahl + Philip Nozuka + Liz Peterson
Lighting Design Kimberly Purtell
Music Caroline Shaw + Roomful of Teeth
Sound Design Philip Nozuka
Costume Design Ming Wong
Stage Manager AJ Laflamme
Assistant Stage Manager Ashley Ireland

Presented in association with Place des Arts

Written by Paul Lefebvre
Translated by Neil Kroetsch

Premiered at Canadian Stage, Toronto, on January 23, 2018

 

© Alejandro Santiago

Jordan Tannahill (Toronto)

In less than a decade, the director, writer, filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Jordan Tannahill has emerged as a major voice in English-Canadian theatre.

Full biography
Interview