Cliff Cardinal brings his dark humour and challenging spirit to Shakespeare at the 2022 PuSh Festival
William Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT; a radical retelling by Cliff Cardinal has its Western Canadian debut at the York Theatre
Post Sponsored by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Cliff Cardinal. Photo by Red Works
Much like Trickster, who inhabits the folklore of many Indigenous cultures, Cliff Cardinal is a complex, many-faceted artist, who enjoys entertaining, enlightening, and making mischief in equal measure.
Since his first play, Stitch, debuted while he was still at the National Theatre School, he’s had a huge impact on the Canadian theatre scene; writing, acting and directing works that dive deep into the most desolating subjects through dark humour and unflinching honesty.
In Huff, he explores poverty, addiction, and abuse experienced by three brothers on a Northern reserve. Throughout the story, Trickster, embodied in the character of Wind, brings an element of fantasy that opens up a magical realm of myth and hope. Huff has won multiple awards, including two Dora Awards (Outstanding Performance and Outstanding New Play) and the Lustrum Award (which recognizes the greatest moments at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and was shortlisted for Amnesty International’s Freedom of Expression Award.
Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Cardinal is the son of iconic Canadian actress Tantoo Cardinal. His first multi-character play, Too Good to Be True, about an off-grid mother and her desperate children—which he also directed—opened Video Cabaret’s 2019 season at Toronto’s Busy St. Theatre.
On the music front, his band, Cliff Cardinal and the Skylarks, have released two albums: This Is Not A Mistake and Gonna Be Fine, both of which are available online.
Cardinal’s newest project is called William Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT; a radical retelling by Cliff Cardinal (produced by Crow’s Theatre), which is having its Western Canadian debut at the 2022 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in February.
The title of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It holds a double meaning that teasingly suggests the play can please all tastes. But is this possible? With his subversive updating of the Bard’s classic, Cardinal seeks to find out. The show exults in bawdy humour, difficult subject matter, and raw emotion; Cardinal is not one to hold back when it comes to challenging delicate sensibilities. Is Trickster at work here? See for yourself when William Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT: a radical retelling by Cliff Cardinal plays February 4 to 6, 2022, at the York Theatre.
For tickets and more information, go to www.pushfestival.ca.
Post sponsored by the PuSh International Performing Arts Society.