Vertip

🎟️ Tickets for Friday, March 17, 2023 at 7 p.m.

🎟️ Tickets for Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 4 p.m.

A show in French

Inspired by Vertep, a 17th-century Slavic puppet theatre that depicts nativity scenes with ethnically diverse protagonists, Vertip tells the story of a penniless puppeteer. He lives in the basement of a community centre in Montréal’s Mile End, where he presents the annual Christmas puppet show.

Then one day, Zyhd, the puppet of the stereotyped Jewish moneylender, starts moving all on his own. Fearing that Zyhd will spoil the show, the puppeteer secretly orders the Cossack to assassinate him. But this plan goes awry…

Vertip is a tragicomedy that uses the anti-Semitic symbols found in European folklore to raise questions about what to do with problematic traditions. The show revels in the beauty of the traditional rod puppet world, while veering into the absurd and surreal.

Warning: the play deals with anti-Semitism.

Running time: 45 minutes
Techniques: rod puppets, in a traditional puppet theatre structure

All audiences, 10 years +

Photos

Photo : Helena Vallès

Company

Scapegoat Carnivale is a bilingual, Montréal-based and artist-driven theatre company that creates highly imaginative and impactful live theatre, including new works, translations and adaptations. Founded in 2006, Scapegoat Carnivale seeks to create theatre that provides an undisciplined, visceral and authentic shared experience. 

www.scapegoatcarnivale.com

Credits

Story: Joseph Shragge, translation by Liliane Gougeon Moisan
Stage direction: Alison Darcy 
Assistant, puppetry direction: Marika Karlsson
Scenography: Alison Darcy, assisted by Maryanna Chan
Performance: Sasha Samar
Puppets: Zach Fraser
Costumes: Cathia Pagotta 
Music: Joseph Shragge and Joseph Browne 
Lighting: Cathia Pagotta
Carpentry: Dave Surette
Production management: Trevor Barette
Dramatic composition: Jonathan Cusson

Scapegoat Carnivale would like to thank Infinitheatre, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Conseil des arts de Montréal for their support.