For tickets
Hal; Single L - Performance
“I am Hal, single L and it is my very firm belief that we are very bad at dying”
And so it goes, I have been working with this theme for the last 20 years under the research title those who are left standing. Hal Sing L is my character delivering a performance centred on this theme.
Hal is a bad comedian an auctioneer square dance caller, a Hoarder a farmer and a bull
Hal tells 6 stories of lives lost. He is the storyteller, All of these stories have been gifted to me by others and then re imagined for the stage.
Hal Single L brings both tenderness and humor to a topic that is difficult for all of us and rides a range of emotions embracing drama, comedy and lyricism.
This prairie influenced and time-soaked piece has been developed over two years through residencies here, in the States and in Europe with draft showings providing critical and valuable feedback.
After this substantial period of development coupled with enthusiastic audience responses to it various drafts, I am excited to say that, Hal; Single L is ready to premiere!
I will often have talk backs at the end of my shows understanding that stories beget stories. This post performance talk will invite audiences to engage in a lively and important conversation around loss in its many forms.
Photo Credit Marilyn Horn
Hal - Single L
Hal sports a beige fortrel jacket embellished with brown braid and boasting a hand-embroidered emblem claiming him as a Regina exhibition dignitary. This outfit is accompanied by a hat blazoned with a bronze bull. Hal’s voice is amplified at times by a terrible crackling mic as he delivers a range of stories in the form of an auctioneer, a square dance caller and an Agribition announcer: “going once, going twice, gone!” Hal disrupts the expected content delivered with his bad jokes and announcements and somehow creates a tender attention and tension in a tribute to particular lives lived. Eulogies often sum up a person’s life in the most quantifiable and comparative way; I liken it to auctioneers outlining the qualities and traits of their livestock in a highly competitive market. Even when laid to rest, we fall into the trope of “must do better”. Through a range of dance/theatre and vocal improvisations, Hal hopes to find the heart in eulogies and stories of loss, journeying from this quantitative summary to what really matters about those remembered. Three stories are woven together through Hal who reminds us that stories never exist on a neutral ground but rather are infused by our own lived experiences and values. There is a bittersweet humor that is laced throughout this dance/theatre piece that promises to entertain and deeply touch audiences.
Click Here to learn about the workshop.
Kathryn Ricketts
Kathryn Ricketts, PhD, is a Full Professor and Chair of Dance in the Education Department at the University of Regina. For the past 40 years, Ricketts has been researching and practicing dance and visual arts, performing and teaching throughout Europe, South America, Africa, Australia and Canada. Ricketts has articulated the methodology Embodied Poetic Narrative, which is focused on developing individual and collective ‘voice’ through poetic performances and writing with vulnerable populations using artifacts and personal narratives. She has 4 performative research characters which she performs regularly. As a dancer and improviser, she inhabits characters for a long period of time. Her characters become a kinaesthetic conduit for the stories of others. Sometimes these are stories that have been silenced and/or never been told. In this way, her practice-based research works as a catalyst for community building within an emancipatory process. Her characters echo themes of displacement, migration, belonging, arrivals, departures, restitution and atonement. Each time she performs, her character is different, as each presentation is a structured improvisation in direct response to context and conditions. The character you will see in this performance is Hal.