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Our work is embodied, physical theatre using a physical and visceral process (rooted in the work of Grotowski, Linda Putnam, clowning, authentic movement and dance) alongside rigorous distillation of text and action. We embrace imagination, play, the deeply personal, the deeply anonymous and the inner lives of both performer and character. In our work, the process is not hidden inside the performance, but a transparent layer breathing life and density into it. We aspire to create work that is human, and asks artists and audiences alike how they define themselves and the world we live in. Our plays are challenging, dream-like, capricious and rich with meaning. Our shows have tackled content ranging from Strindberg to Restoration Comedy and from Virginia Woolf to Pierre Trudeau. A child of fringe festivals, we performed our first work at the San Francisco Fringe Festival in 1998 and since 2000 have been self-producing and developing new work. We were incorporated as a not for profit charitable organization in March 2005. Theatre Rusticle has been honoured with Dora Nominations for Michelle Ramsay (Outstanding Lighting Design for The Stronger Variations in 2007) and Brooke Johnson (Outstanding Performance by and Actress for Wish in 2006) in the Independent Theatre category. In 2006, we were named the “Best Movement Based Theatre Company” in Toronto by NOW Magazine
What The Press Says: " ...seldom has there been anything as elegant and imaginative as this movement-based piece from the superb Theatre Rusticle". Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine " Superbly deconstructed...an expressionistic journey into the subconscious...Theatre Rusticle makes for very compelling theatre". Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail. "McMackon knows how to give vibrant physical and textual life to a scene". Jon Kaplan, Plays International Vol.22. "A brilliantly executed piece of theatre". Robert Cushman, The National Post. "...intense and nuanced performances that resonate throughout the entire body". James Simons, eye weekly. "A stunning piece of theatre...all four performances are engaging and sharp...a firmly rooted, but exotic gem". Les Gutman, Curtainup.com. "...a piercing intelligence...McMackon gives shape and form to the inexpressible". Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine Our Work 2008 ~ April 14, 1912, presented at SuperNova Theatre Festival and Magnetic North Theatre Festival 2007 ~ April 14, 1912, produced in association with Harbourfront Centre, Studio Theatre 2006 ~ The Stronger Variations, produced in association with Harbourfront Centre, Studio Theatre. Dora Nomination for Michelle Ramsay 2005 ~ Wish, Dancemakers Centre for Creation. Dora Nomination for Brooke Johnson 2005 ~ The Stronger...A Variation, Toronto Fringe Festival 2004 ~ And One Night It Snowed, The Theatre Centre 2002-2003 ~ Workshops: Wishfort and The/La Pirouette 2001 ~ Dinner at Seven-Thirty, Dancemakers Studio 2000 ~ Now The Day Is Over, Toronto and New York Fringe Festivals 1999 ~ Purple Heart, produced with Artemis Theatre, Passe Muraille Backspace 1998 ~ Bride's Albatross, San Francisco Fringe Festival photo of Viv Moore & Liza Balkan in The Stronger Variations. Photo by Michelle Ramsay 2006 |
Theatre
Rusticle is an independent physical theatre
company formed in 1998 by Allyson McMackon.
We create original and daring work inspired by plays, poems, history
and literature with an eye to the relationship between text and movement.
We are committed to creating plays that are spare yet image drenched
and embrace the language of text and the body. Like the rusticles we
are named after, we eat away at the raw material of our sources and
leave beautiful, haunting forms behind. Our raw material is text, the
body, emotion and narrative. Our forms are the plays we create. 
Allyson
McMackon has been active in the independent theatre
community since 1989. She recently directed Brooke Johnson's The
Trudeau Stories (Summerworks 2007). She is a frequent
rehearsal director for various dance and theatre artists and has worked
as a teacher, performer, mover and administrator. Allyson has an MFA
in theatre performance from York University and a BA in Drama And English
from the University of Toronto. She has trained with David Smukler,
Paula Thomson, Dean Gilmour, Linda Putnam, Edie Shaw and Tom Diamond.
In 2004 and 2008, she was nominated for the prestgious KM Hunter Artist
Award. She currently sits on the board of Puppetmongers Theatre, is
a Guest Artist at Unionville School of the Arts and is an Artistic Associate
at Theatre
Passe Muraille.