Odditi(m)es | A Tragic Comedy in Pandemic Times, 2020

Site Specific Work in Woodland Yard of Artist

Creator and puppeteer: Troy Hourie

Collaborator and puppeteer: Andrew Gaboury

Collaborator, puppeteer and sound designer: Colleen Snell

U of Guelph Scenic design interns: Samantha Adams, Emily Brown and Liaba Nisar

Video consultant: Costa Soutos

Odditi(m)es is a new puppetry piece created by Troy Hourie with Andrew Gaboury and Colleen Snell. U of Guelph students Sam Adams, Emily Brown and Liaba Nisar are production design interns for the project. We have created a piece based on the Portuguese tradition of Dom Roberto (Punch and Judy) that reflects on the adventures of social/physical distancing that we have endured during the pandemic. There are many absurd interactions floating all over social media about how people are dealing with physical distancing in public. Our performance is filled with comedic characters and lots of physical comedy staged with the idea of keeping our physical distances.

We all need to laugh...

Special thanks to Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora who introduced the team to this tradition. Project supported by U Guelph College of Arts Creating in Covid Times Funding. The performance was live streamed on Aug 22 at 11AM EST.