Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools
ON TOUR
“a bracing, beautiful, thought-provoking, unsettling, challenging show”
— Intermission Magazine
A concert and a conversation, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools is the meeting place of two people, and the North and South of our country. Inuk artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and queer theatre-maker Evalyn Parry met on an Arctic expedition from Iqaluit to Greenland. Now sharing a stage, these two powerful storytellers map new territory together in a work that gives voice and body to the histories, culture, and climate we’ve inherited and asks how we reckon with these sharp tools.
The award-winning production picks up its international tour this season, with presentations in the UK and Europe in November, and more stops to be announced.
Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools was originally developed and co-produced with Theatre Passe Muraille.
photo of Evalyn Parry + Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory by Jeremy Mimnagh
A Buddies in Bad Times Theatre production
KIINALIK: THESE SHARP TOOLS
written + performed by EVALYN PARRY + LAAKKULUK WILLIAMSON BATHORY
created by EVALYN PARRY, LAAKKULUK WILLIAMSON BATHORY, ERIN BRUBACHER + ELYSHA POIRIER with CRIS DERKSEN
directed by ERIN BRUBACHER
live video by ELYSHA POIRIER
original composition + live music by CRIS DERKSEN + EVALYN PARRY
sound by ALEDA ROCHE
lighting design by REBECCA PICHERACK
set design by KAITLIN HICKEY
“Powerfully connects audience to peoples and culture of the North”
-Toronto Star (Read Article)
“The cultural expression of uaajeerneq, a Greenlandic mask dance, gives way to the political in a rich, thoughtful and impassioned fusion.”
-The Guardian (UK) (Read Article)
“Astounding… another example of how working together rather than in conflict can lead to the best theatre”
-Globe & Mail (Read Article)
“a bracing, beautiful, thought-provoking, unsettling, challenging show”
-Intermission Magazine (Read Article)
“Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools deserves to run forever, to be heaped with laurels, for the performers to be born aloft in the streets as an example of how to do the thing brilliantly. Go.”
-Mooney on Theatre (Read Article)
“an electrifying reclaiming of cultural roots delivered with power and grace”
-The Herald (Scotland) (Read Article)
“astonishing and almost frightening in its transgressive power”
-Now Magazine (Read Article)
Top 10 Shows of 2017
-The Globe & Mail
-The Toronto Star
Outstanding New Play
-Dora Mavor Moore Awards
Best Director of a Play – Erin Brubacher
-Toronto Theatre Critics Association
Best Actress in a Play – Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
-Toronto Theatre Critics Association
Outstanding Sound Design / Composition
-Dora Mavor Moore Awards
Photos of Evalyn Parry, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, and Cris Derksen. Set by Kaitlin Hickey; Projections by Elysha Poirier, Lighting by Rebecca Picherack. Photos by Jeremy Mimnagh.
2017-18
2018-19
Qaggiavuut (Iqaluit)
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, presented with Touchstone Theatre (Vancouver)
Espace Libre (Montréal)
Luminato (Toronto)
2019-20
August 2-5, 2019
Edinburgh International Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland)
October 22, 2019
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (Mexico City, Mexico)
October 25 + 26, 2019
Festival Internacional Cervantino (Guanajuato, Mexico)
January 22 – February 9, 2020
GCTC / National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre (Ottawa)
Tour Dates
Belfast International Arts Festival
November 4 & 5
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
More 2022-23 season will be added here once announced.