Epidemic Circus is a surreal and wild variety show in which a live film is created right before the audience’s eyes, using only everyday objects, a camera, a giant screen, and the bare hands of an experienced puppeteer. As her fingers move, surprising characters instantly come to life: a mischievous baby, an endearing shark, or a tangerine doing a striptease. All of this comes together to create a hilarious, absurd and fascinating universe, with echoes of Wes Anderson and David Lynch.

SNAFU is the artistic project of Kathleen Greenfield and Ingrid Hansen (Fraggle Rock, Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop), creating ephemeral, tactile experiences that imagine possible utopias and champion the artist as a community connector, world-builder and playful provocateur, using humour to play with taboos. Their shows have been presented at major international puppet festivals, including the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes in Charleville-Mézières, Casteliers in Montreal and the Chuncheon Puppet Festival in Korea.

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
Performance: André-Anne LeBlanc
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.