Hyena Subpoena (2011)

“Kidd dominates this space with a huge presence … and she is
like no other solo performer I have ever seen” – The Charlebois Post

“Darcy is truly one of the most interesting directors in this city
and her work with Kidd was breathtaking.” – The Rover

Hyena Subpoena

A Cat Kidd/Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre co-production
October 13–29, 2011

Written by Catherine Kidd
Directed by Alison Darcy

Cat Kidd productions and Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre are thrilled to co-present Hyena Subpoena, a new solo multi-media creation by one of Canada’s most highly regarded writer/spoken word artists, Catherine Kidd, and directed by Alison Darcy. Set in a campsite in South Africa’s famed Kruger Park, the show is composed of eight interlinked stories told by activist and poet Mona Morse, who has fled civilization for the bushveld. The postcards she sends home claim that she’s transformed herself into a hyena.

After a six-year international tour with her award-winning solo-show Sea Peach, Kidd published her first novel, but has now returned to her signature performance style, hybridizing poetic rhythm and rhyme with traditional prose narrative, to enhance the inherent musicality of language and create a heightened, magical perspective of reality. The found space, Les Ateliers Jean Brillant, will be transformed under the production design of Jody Burkholder, audio environments blending sampled animal/environmental sounds with original loops and rhythms by Kidd’s long-time collaborator Dj Jacky Murda (Barcelona), and African wildlife video footage collected by Geoff Agombar.

In the tradition of the Künstlerroman, Morse’s stories implicitly chafe against the skewed values of her society. Her stories concern social conflicts shared by humans and non-humans alike—such as those between freedom and security, individual and collective, predator and prey, civilized and savage. At their root, these stories question the nature of personhood, and what it means to be granted the status of “person.”

“Our city’s newest superstar… a knockout…This Kidd is pure gold.”(Montreal Gazette)

“Clearly one of Canada’s most talented wordsmiths.” (Broken Pencil)

“Catherine Kidd’s performance style makes me think of Dr. Seuss meets Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom meets David Suzuki meets Vaudeville meets Patti Smith. Yeah, it is that good. It’s a musical theatre crash course in punk rock zoology.” (T.L. Cowan, Calgary International Spoken Word Festival)