Inspired by both a performance studies thesis and by her own constant and innate desire to get a little closer, Coco Roberge offers Come Cuddle Me, part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s ‘Bring Your Own Venue’ series. Alone on stage, Coco portrays over seven characters in an exposé that playfully takes the audience from an academic lecture to a cuddle party, defining the edges of both theatre and public intimacy.
“My desire to create the show was germinated in a solo performance course during my M.A. program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2009,” explains Roberge. “Come Cuddle Me represents an integral truth about my own personality and psychology while it integrates some of my scholarly curiosities and fixations.”
The show is built to be a reflection of Roberge’s interest in re-imaging the intimate nature of theatre and to represent both solidarity and solace. “I don’t want to deal in always or never as I am ultra aware of the limitations of my perspective. I’m most interested in making personal, humanist theatre that plays with the actor/audience dynamic and that leaves witnesses somewhat hopeful.”
Come Cuddle Me is SHIFT Theatre’s first original production and is partially based on Joy Brooke Fairfield’s M.A. thesis: “Thinking Beside: Subjectivity and Relationality at Cuddle Parties” 2010.
Come Cuddle Me
Dates: September 6, 5 pm
September 7, 8 pm
September 8, 6 pm
September 9, 10:15 pm/*Half-price show
September 12, 10:15 pm
September 13, 9 pm
September 14, 5 pm
Venue: Carousel Theatre, 1411 Cartwright Street (Granville Island), Vancouver
Tickets: $10 weekday/$12 weekend (plus one-time $5 Fringe Festival membership); available online or at the Box Office, 1398 Cartwright Street on Granville Island.
*All advance ticket purchases subject to a $3 surcharge.
