Epidermis Circus is a surreal and wild variety show in which experienced television puppeteer Ingrid Hansen (Fraggle Rock, Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop) creates a live film before the audience’s eyes, using nothing but everyday objects, a camera, a giant screen and her bare hands. As her fingers move, surprising characters instantly come to life: a mischievous baby, an endearing shark or a clementine performing a striptease. Together, they inhabit a hilarious, absurd and fascinating universe, with echoes of Wes Anderson and David Lynch.

Ingrid Hansen
The daughter of outgoing Danish immigrants, Ingrid Hansen is a Canadian performance maker who also works as a television puppeteer for Sesame Workshop (Helpsters) and The Jim Henson Company (Fraggle Rock). She co-directs SNAFU, a Canadian company based on the west coast that creates singular, challenging and meaningful performances, capable of provoking audiences, celebrating all bodies and cultivating joy through play.
She is currently touring with Epidermis Circus (for adult audiences) and The Baby Tyler Show (for ages 5 and up). SNAFU’s performances have been presented at Lincoln Center in New York, the National Arts Centre of Canada and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico. They have also been programmed by David Byrne of Talking Heads and by Nina Conti at London’s West End, as well as at the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes (FMTM) in Charleville-Mézières, France—the world’s leading puppet theatre festival—and the Chuncheon Puppet Festival in South Korea.
More recently, the company sold out its entire Off-Broadway run at Soho Theatre and completed a five-month tour of theatres across France. Ingrid also creates performances with inmates at William Head Institution, as part of the prison theatre company William Head on Stage. She is also a member of the comedy duo The Merkin Sisters, who have just released a new album available on all platforms.

Britt Small
Director, creator, performer, teacher, and founder and artistic director of Atomic Vaudeville, based in Victoria, British Columbia. For more than twenty years, she has created original interdisciplinary performances combining theatre, clown, music, dance, puppetry and satire to shape bold and deeply collaborative theatrical experiences.
Her work has toured nationally and internationally, and productions such as Ride the Cyclone, Epidermis Circus, God’s Lake and Jimbo’s Drag Circus have received critical acclaim and numerous awards. Alongside her artistic practice, Britt teaches clown, movement and performance creation, mentors emerging artists and champions collaborative creation as a tool for artistic excellence and community building.
Her work explores the intersection of humour, vulnerability and social critique, inviting audiences to experience intense, surprising and deeply life-affirming encounters.

Format: bare-hand puppetry, projections, mirror illusions and object theatre
Language: English, 80% non-verbal
Duration: 75 minutes
Recommended age: adults and young people aged 14 and over
CONTENT WARNING: Epidermis Circus includes cartoonish sexual content, obscene language and puppet suicide. The performance includes moments of low lighting, loud music and plenty of surprises.

Direction and Co-creation: Britt Small
Co-creation and Performance: Ingrid Hansen
Costume Design: Jimbo the Drag Clown
Music Composition: Hank Pine & The Merkin Sisters
Stage Management: Kenny Streule
Co-production: Kathleen Greenfield
Puppetry Advice and Additional Jokes: Andre-Anne Leblanc, Victor Dolhai, Mike Petersen, Rod Peter Jr and Anand Rajaram
Supported by: Capital Regional District Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council and Province of British Columbia.