Presented by Springboard Performance in partnership with Knox United Church.
Tickets include Act 1 and Act 2.
Brook Tate graces Calgary stages for two nights of theatre, dance, and drag. Sharing new music, song, story, and live bodypainting, Brook Tate's work is redefining what music and theatre might be, with a menagerie of art, performance…and animals. Rooted in discovery and curiosity Brook’s performances touch on familial loss, faith and queer identity through a child-like lense for grown-up children...
A young Jehovah's Witness comes to terms with his sexuality and finds his feet (and high heels...) in a world he once believed would be destroyed at Armageddon. Menagerie is a performance written and performed by Brook Tate with original music alongside a gathering of animals, a paintbrush and a pair of tap shoes, he hopes to shine a light on what it means to be marked a beast.
In Menagerie, Debra the Zebra fails to blend in, she is Ostrich-eyezed by her herd and cast out into the wilderness alone. With hoofs that make too much noise, an intense love of colour, and a name she has only ever been allowed to whisper, Debra sets hoof into a world she believes will swallow her whole. But in a land full of queerd and wonderful creatures, not everything is quite so black and white…
Brook Tate's work took the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Fest by storm with performances that bristle with honesty and talent within performances at the intersection of queer creation, social justice, theatre, music, drag, and spirituality.
Winner of Edinburgh Fringe Fest Spirit of the Fringe Award
CRITIC’S BEST SHOWS at THE EDINBURGH FRINGE award! With performances earnest and bursting with calls for compassion, @brooktate’s Birthmarked is a breath of fresh air with its kindness and warmth, mixed with a gentle sense of childlike wonder.
Featured Artists
Brook Tate (UK) · Creator/Performer
Brook Tate is a British artist and theatre maker, practising in both the visual arts and live performance. He has written and composed four musicals which have been staged at the Bristol Old Vic, his autobiographical gig-musical ‘Birthmarked’ was listed as one of the top shows at Edinburgh Fringe 2023 among the critics choice (The Stage). As a self taught queer ex-Jehovah’s Witness, Brook endeavours to create work that both exposes dangerous and damaging systems in place within organised religions whilst remaining hopeful and optimistic about building a life once having left or excommunicated from such groups. You can see more of Brook Tate’s work at brooktate.com (http://brooktate.com/) or on his instagram @brooktate
Tom Bonson · Guitar
Eva Redman · (synth and percussion)