Revisor
Kidd Pivot (Vancouver)
Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young
Back by popular demand comes Revisor, a twinned hybrid of dance and theatre fuelled by the classic tropes of political satire. Choreographer Crystal Pite and writer/director Jonathon Young, the creators of the internationally acclaimed Betroffenheit, take inspiration from Nikolai Gogol’s scabrous pantomime of power and politics.
When a sneaky bureaucrat undoes the corrupt officials of a provincial city, out of a heaping trash-pile of bad behaviour — lust, greed, fear and mendacity — emerges a warped yet prescient image of our current state.
It is a funhouse mirror, a horror show, a comedy that is no longer funny. More than just an excoriating takedown of human venality, Revisor pulls apart the very foundations of the creative impulse, itself a form of obsessive control. As the architecture of farce falls away, what emerges is the raw truth of the body.
Co-produced by Sadler’s Wells (London, UK), Théâtre de la Ville – Paris/La Villette – Paris (Paris, France), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff, Canada), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina, US), The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Dance Victoria (Victoria, Canada), Canadian Stage (Toronto, Canada), National Arts Centre (Ottawa, Canada), DanceHouse with support from Anndraya Luui (Vancouver, Canada), Dance Victoria (Victoria, Canada), Danse Danse (Montreal, Canada) and Seattle Theatre Group (Seattle, US).
This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.
Developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
Production Sponsors
Anndraya Luui and Sonya Wall
Top image: Kidd Pivot, Revisor © Michael Slobodian
March 30 – April 2, 2022 | 8pm
Vancouver Playhouse
(600 Hamilton Street)
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.
Pre-show Talk 7:15pm each night in the Vancouver Playhouse Upper Lobby.
Hosts: Mirna Zagar (Executive Director, The Dance Centre – Mar 30 & 31), Artemis Gordon (Artistic Director, Arts Umbrella Dance – Apr 1 & 2). Guests: Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, co-creators of Revisor.
“Much like Betroffenheit’s nightmarish second half, this portion operates like an externalization of forces we cannot see – it’s a reification of fear, suffering and voicelessness. In it, we revisit scenes and sequences from the show’s first part, but it’s as though the fog of corruption has burned off, and we’re able to see with a kind of philosophical clarity.”
The Globe & Mail
“The result is astonishing not for its imitation, but for its exactitude: the rhythms and intonations of speech drive every gesture, stance and step. Choreographically, it’s riveting, both for the inventive articulation of individual bodies and for the fine-tuned dynamics of the ensemble, as responsive as conversation itself.”
The Guardian
“By stretching time, bending it, and abstracting the story, Pite and Young take us into a kind of alternate dimension—one so feverishly removed from reality, in fact, that not all the creatures are even human anymore.”
The Georgia Straight
“It’s an irresistible ride.”
The Dance Current
Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot’s performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Under the direction of internationally renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, the company’s distinct choreographic language — a breadth of movement fusing classical elements and the complexity and freedom of structured improvisation — is marked by a strong theatrical sensibility and a keen sense of wit and invention.
Kidd Pivot tours extensively around the world with productions such as Betroffenheit (2015), The Tempest Replica (2011), The You Show (2010), Dark Matters (2009), and Lost Action (2006).
Since 2015, Kidd Pivot has measured its touring carbon footprint and offset over 400 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), enabling Kidd Pivot to be one of the first dance companies to tour carbon neutral.
Crystal Pite
Co-creator, Choreographer, Director
Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. She has created over 50 works for companies including The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater I, Ballett Frankfurt, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet British Columbia. The recipient of numerous awards for artistic excellence, including three Olivier Awards and, most recently, the 2018 Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, Pite is an Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater, Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells, London. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University. In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot in Vancouver.
Jonathon Young
Co-creator, Writer, Voice Actor
Canadian theatre maker Jonathon Young is Playwright-in-Residence at Kidd Pivot and a co-founder of Electric Company Theatre, where he has created and performed in over 20 original productions: Tear the Curtain! (Arts Club Theatre, Canadian Stage), No Exit (American Conservatory Theatre), Betroffenheit (international tour). He has worked across Canada as a freelance actor on multiple projects: All But Gone (Necessary Angel, Toronto) The Waiting Room (Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver), The Great Gatsby (Theatre Calgary), Hamlet (Bard on the Beach, Vancouver), and wrote text for Crystal Pite on two productions for Nederlands Dans Theater (Parade and The Statement). Jonathon is the recipient of an Olivier Award, the UK National Dance Award and several Jessie Richardson Awards for writing and performance.
