Little Dickens

Created & performed by Ronnie Burkett

A naughty remix of Charles Dickens’ classic starts the Yuletide celebrations early at Centaur.

Nothing says “let the holiday season begin” like a brand new pair of pasties!

He’s baaaaack! Canada’s own brilliant and outrageous puppet master, Ronnie Burkett, returns to Centaur after wowing Montreal audiences with The Daisy Theatre in 2018. This time the raucous Daisy gang is getting into the festive spirit, putting their unique stamp on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Faded diva, Esmé Massengill, is Scrooge in this merry marionette mash-up. All your Daisy favourites pop by as Dickens characters to guide Esmé, in their not-so-subtle way, to redemption and the true meaning of Christmas. An adults-only holiday treat!

Ronnie Burkett has been captivated by puppetry since the age of seven, when he opened the World Book Encyclopedia to “Puppets”.  He began touring his puppet shows around Alberta at the age of fourteen and has been on the road ever since.

Recognized as one of Canada’s foremost theatre artists, Ronnie Burkett has been credited with creating some of the world’s most elaborate and provocative puppetry. Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes was formed in 1986 and has stimulated an unprecedented adult audience for puppet theatre, continuously playing to great critical and public acclaim on Canada’s major stages, and as a guest company on numerous international tours abroad.

Ronnie has received numerous awards in the Canadian theatre as a playwright, actor and designer for his work with Theatre of Marionettes, including the 2009 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, The Herbert Whittaker Drama Bench Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Theatre, and international recognition including a Village Voice OBIE Award in New York for Off-Broadway Theatre, The GLAAD Award for Outstanding Theater, Broadway/Off-Broadway,  and four Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from the American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette.

Ronnie’s highly acclaimed and wildly popular improvised marionette vaudeville cabaret The Daisy Theatre has played six consecutive sold-out touring seasons including Los Angeles to New York, Vancover, Toronto, Sydney and Auckland. This thirteenth production from Theatre of Marionettes follows the international successes Penny Plain, Billy Twinkle, 10 Days on Earth, Provenance and the “Memory Dress Trilogy” of Tinka’s New Dress, Street of Blood and Happy. Little Dickens (The Daisy Theatre version of A Christmas Carol), premiered in 2017. In June 2019, Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes premiered a new audience-interactive production, Forget Me Not.

New York’s The Village Voice has said, “Ronnie Burkett is one of the world’s geniuses…seeing his troupe every few years has just become a necessity of civilized theatergoing.”

Age restriction: 16+

The Centaur Theatre
453 St. François-Xavier

For tickets and information: www.centaurtheatre.com   514-288-3161

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