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SummerWorks > i am your spaniel, or, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare by Gislina Patterson
An extreme close up of pale, rosy cheeked person's nose, chin, and chest. They are wearing a loose red leather dog collar around their neck, holding the end of the leash between their teeth, and grinning. Photo Credit: Gislina Patterson

i am your spaniel, or, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare by Gislina Patterson

Interdisciplinary / Live Art / Theatre

We Quit Theatre

Venue
The Theatre Centre, BMO Incubator

Aug 5, 8:30PM

Aug 8, 8:30PM

Aug 9, 8:30PM (AD)

Aug 10, 8:30PM

Aug 11, 8:30PM

Aug 12, 4:00PM (RP)

Aug 13, 4:00PM

90 Minutes

Ticket Price
$15, $25, $35

An extreme close up of pale, rosy cheeked person's nose, chin, and chest. They are wearing a loose red leather dog collar around their neck, holding the end of the leash between their teeth, and grinning. Photo Credit: Gislina Patterson

Shakespeare with bite.

Welcome to a beginner’s lecture on Shakespare’s First Folio text analysis. The lecture covers: grammar and spelling, historical context, misplaced memories, climate disaster, violence, Sam Rockwell movies, shoplifting, masculinity, nepotism, propaganda, inflation, T4T, and talking dogs. No lunch provided.

i am your spaniel, or, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare by Gislina Patterson is a drag performance lecture in which a female Shakespeare scholar named Gislina Patterson, played by an undereducated trans man named Gislina Patterson, reads A Midsummer Night’s Dream too closely and turns into a dog. It’s about the family as a site of control, theatre as state propaganda, being in love, becoming a traitor, transformation, desire, Iggy Pop, being good, being bad, and what it means to be a man.

“Dasha & Gislina’s works remind me of Jarman, Greenaway & Abramovitch in their ability to articulate a singular vision & create revolutionary works.”
– Sadie Berlin, Performance Artist and Author

Created by We Quit Theatre
Gislina Patterson – Playwright, performer
Dasha Plett – Director, dramaturg, performer

Presented in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Development of i am your spaniel was supported by the Stratford Festival Lab.
We Quit Theatre acknowledges the support of Canada Council for the Arts and Manitoba Arts Council.

Accessibility
Open Audio Description (AD) will be provided on Aug 9th. There is a Relaxed Performance (RP) on Aug 12th.

All performances are COVID-Conscious Performances; all audience members are required to wear masks in the theatre.

Advisories

Content: references to and descriptions of animal abuse, familial abuse, forced marriage, classism, homophobia, eugenics, masochism, landlords, murder, gender dysphoria, childhood sexual trauma, child abuse, transphobia, dog attacks, institutionalization, memory loss, capital punishment, suicide, racism, racial capitalism, agoraphobia, violence.

Sensory: Sudden light changes, loud sound effects and music, layered discordant sound and image. Footage featured in the performance includes some flashing light, brief nudity, implied violence and dog attacks. 

SummerWorks Presentations programming – a collection of fully-developed new works and touring productions, offering a snapshot of the future of contemporary performance.

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