The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts presents a Deer Lake Artist in Residence Production, In The Belly of The Carp, at the Studio Theatre November 28-30.
Created by Rodney DeCroo, Samantha Pawliuk and David Bloom, in collaboration with director TJ Dawe and shadow puppeteers Jessica Gabriel and Chloé Ziner of Mind of a Snail, In The Belly of The Carp, follows brilliant but erratic songwriter, Rodney, as he tries to get through a major concert – his first since the death of his sobriety sponsor.
Throughout the hybrid concert/play/poetry-reading sees traumas from Rodney’s troubled past emerge to play tug-of-war with his well-being, torpedo his relationships (especially with his long-time manager and closest friend Samantha), and plunge him into a battle for his soul inside a giant fish
Accompanied by his band, Rodney performs original songs and poetry, and interacts with characters, real and imaginary, who pull him out of the present, throw him into sometimes traumatic memories, and occasionally drag him into the Underworld and other fantastical locations. Award-winning shadow puppeteers Mind of a Snail create the visuals to bring these scenes to life and evoke the mind-bending nature of PTSD flashbacks.
Running parallel to current-Rodney’s concert is the story of past-Rodney’s journey to get there. We see his boyhood self encounter traumas and triumphs, learning to use his art and imagination as a means to survive – and to help others do the same. In The Belly of The Carp charts the strange worlds and battered characters populating DeCroo’s mind. It explores childhood abuse, PTSD, addiction, and violence with an eye to finding a transformative beauty in human struggle.
Rodney DeCroo’s work serves as front-line reporting on poverty, addiction, and trauma from someone who knows the terrain and the people in it. He is a working-class artist, who brings a perspective rarely represented on Canadian stages. The show explores themes of childhood abuse, PTSD, addiction, and violence with an eye to finding a transformative beauty in self-exploration and learning to expose, identify, and live with one’s past traumas.
Building on themes from Director TJ Dawe and DeCroo previous collaboration, Don’t Hurt this new production incorporates live music, vivid shadow designs, and a sense of the fantastic.
In The Belly of The Carp runs November 28-30, 2024 at 7:30pm, as well as November 30 at 2pm in the Studio Theatre at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 6450 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby. Tickets available online for $25 at tickets.shadboltcentre.com