Masked theatre troupe WONDERHEADS brings The Wilds to the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, March 17
Wordless performance incorporates whimsical puppetry to tell the story of a man in search of his missing wife
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts presents WONDERHEADS’s The Wilds on March 17 at 2 pm
VICTORIA-BASED THEATRE COMPANY WONDERHEADS approaches the performing arts in a unique way. Rather than expressing themselves through dialogue and facial expressions, the troupe’s actors don full-face handcrafted masks—and they don’t say a word.
In The Wilds, a man named Wendell journeys into a mysterious forest in search of his wife Tilda, who has gone missing along with the pair’s beloved backyard tree. As he treks through an ever-shifting landscape and encounters strange creatures, Wendell must learn the secrets of The Wilds to reunite with his love.
The show, which also incorporates puppets designed by Kate Braidwood and Andrew Phoenix, is described as a thrilling mix of Pixar’s endearing movie magic, Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli whimsy, and Muppets mastermind Jim Henson’s artistry.
Founded by artistic directors Braidwood and Phoenix in 2009, WONDERHEADS now has five original productions in its repertoire: 2009’s Grim and Fischer, 2012’s LOON, 2014’s The Middle of Everywhere, 2018’s The Wilds, and 2019’s A WONDERHEADS Christmas Carol.
Braidwood has trained in mask-making and performance under the likes of Bruce Marrs, Joan Schirle, and Ronlin Foreman, and has worked with Berlin-based masked theatre company Familie Flöz. She is also trained in the Italian masked theatre form Commedia Dell’Arte. The multitalented co-artistic director diligently creates the full-face masks for every WONDERHEADS show by hand, a process that can take her anywhere from 50 to 80 hours per mask.
The upcoming performance of The Wilds at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby is part of a larger B.C. tour that has already circled to Surrey, Coquitlam, Vernon, Trail, and Nelson.
Audiences outside of the Lower Mainland can catch the production’s remaining stops in Golden, Victoria, Duncan, and Courtenay throughout March.
Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.
Related Articles
Tickets are selling fast for Granville Island offerings from May 27 to June 2, including Otosan, Robot Song, The Papa Penguin Play, and more
Production tells the late-1800s story of trailblazing Mohawk poet-performer Pauline Johnson
Critically acclaimed play explores young fathers connecting over shared struggles
Show topics span technology, neurodiversity, loss, and more across 14 mainstage presentations, including Multi – Vs, Silent Howl, and The Ballad of Georges Boivin
Artistic director and former avid summer camper Jalen Saip tapped into her experiences for a show about the wild world of canoeing, campfires, and crushes
Nadeem Phillip Umar Khitab plays the lead role of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, in captivating Shakespeare tale of revenge and existential crisis
Autobiographical play follows siblings Joey and Michel(le) as they grow up in working-class 1970s Quebec
Two shows, one for infants ages 0 to 2 and one for neurodiverse children ages 4 and up, will be hosted as part of the Micro Performance Series
Sharp dialogue as a writer, a fact-checker, and an editor wrestle over writerly embellishments in Kindred Theatre Society production
Paper planes, food rituals, and more, in Urban Ink and The Cultch production that maps the connections and disconnections over decades
Performances of beloved Shakespeare show will take place in Sen̓áḵw/Vanier Park from June 11 to September 21, with several special events in store
In Zombies, Mannequins, and Talking Heads, playwrights Adam Grant Warren, Jordyn Wood, and Alex Masse share progressive scripts in development
Festivals, music, dance, poetry, and more as artists honour Asian culture with a luminous May events calendar
New DOXA Documentary Film Festival feature tells the incredible story of the Armstrong company, and how spending childhood summers there inspired McNeil’s own art-making
First 400 copies of new anthology by 16 Canadian playwrights will be distributed to schools in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal
Meghan Gardiner’s pitch-perfect nanny and stunning painted sets help bring Royal City Musical Theatre production of beloved classic to life
Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre hosts a birthday ode to the iconic musical theatre composer with tracks from Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and more
Real battle between a writer and fact-checker makes for high-stakes theatre
The Cultch and Urban Ink present Kamila Sediego’s play that explores cultural identity and familial duty
Theatre schools, the BMI, critics, and casting auditions: everything’s fair game in a show that flips easily between biting, big laughs and darker reflections
Some Assembly Theatre Company play, created in collaboration with diverse youth, reminds audiences of the internet’s exciting opportunities and frightening risks
Taboo-buster Cheyenne Rouleau traverses more personal terrain in new one-woman show
Centred at The Cultch, contemporary-performance celebration spans bioacoustic opera and African-dance-infused theatre
The Cultch, Savage Society, and NAC Indigenous Theatre coproduction balances joy and solemnity for a transporting vision
Company’s just-launched lineup will feature everything from fast-fashion-inspired acrobatics to conceptual hip-hop, across four venues
Pi Provocateur performance featuring stand-up comedians and Tightrope Impro Theatre will take place at brand-new Little Mountain Gallery
The countercultural icon of fringe cinema riffs the dangers of smoking, mainstream acceptance, and trigger warning in advance of his appearances at the Rio Theatre on April 25 and 26
Actors find gentle laughs in story of a 50-something couple trying—and failing—to reignite their romantic spark
In the wake of loss, family and friends struggle to navigate inner turmoil, even as they inadvertently hurt each other in the process
Company to showcase scripts by Jordyn Wood, Alex Masse, and Adam Grant Warren at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre