"Thoroughly Engaging" ... "Sweetly Charming" ... "Emotionally Demanding"
"A Powerfully Expressive Performance"
"Two Words: Freakin' Brilliant"
Worm-Hole
Conceived & Performed by Niki McCretton
Directed by Judy Preston
A young woman rejects the stability of everyday life for a strange devotion to a cloistered, threadbare existence. Imagine ... rejecting everything you have previously possessed or achieved for a life where simplicity and regimen become the blissful order of the day ... until it becomes impossible to ignore the endless questions that relentlessly invade the creative human mind. Worm-Hole is an enthralling hybrid of physical theatre, dance and comedy which proves to be as absurd and repetitive as most lives, yet just as absorbing.
A blend of dance, mime and skilled athletic physicality, Worm-Hole tells the tale of a devoted religious novice as she loses her individuality within the trappings of her beliefs, and struggles to break the chains of single-minded devotion and re-discover her true self. But is this only about religion? Watch this unconventional take on modern life ... give yourself over to it ... and decide.
As absurd as Ionesco, as thought-provoking as Beckett and as irreverent as Groundhog Day, this one-woman show has fascinated and captivated audiences from Edinburgh, Scotland to Seattle, Washington, USA. Skillfully and seamlessly combining theatre, satire and dance, Niki McCretton performs a demanding work that combines slapstick with satire, providing a subtly-subversive slant on modern life.
"... imaginative staging and a fluid performance." (The Scotsman)
"Niki McCretton’s performance is undoubtedly captivating." (The List)
"... intensive, affecting and funny body theatre." (Deutschland Radio Kultur)
By Robin Chase
In August 2001, Niki took her debut solo dance-based performance piece, Worm-Hole, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - the mother of all fringe festivals - in Edinburgh, Scotland. In an atmosphere where many a budding thespian's heart has been broken, Niki dazzled and delighted audiences with each and every performance. Her achievement was not lost on the professionals who came out to judge her. The Edinburgh Fringe's officially-sanctioned weekly newspaper, Three Weeks, provided a Five-Star Review. Here is an excerpt from their 09 August 2001 edition:
"... a deeply comic and sometimes surreal performance ... a powerfully expressive performance. Fantastically crafted, the gradual desecration of the sacred is seamlessly choreographed while the sheer physicality of certain scenes is breathtaking. Worm-Hole is stunning. See it now."
Adrian Berry, Programme Manager at The Bull Theatre in London, U.K., provided this superlative:
"Worm-Hole blew me away - a sad, moving and often laugh-out-loud fusion of stunning physical theatre and total absurdity, like Lyndsey Kemp meets Scarlet Theatre. Probably the best show I saw at Edinburgh 2001."
Also on hand at Edinburgh was an official from the Minnesota Fringe Festival who invited Niki to attend the Minnesota Fringe. That invitation was the catalyst for Niki's decision to tour Worm-Hole on the North American Fringe Festival Circuit in 2002. From October 2001 through May 2002, Niki gave numerous individual performances of Worm-Hole throughout England before taking the show to the inaugural Prague Fringe Festival in The Czech Republic in June 2002.
Buoyed by the great reception she received from Prague audiences, she returned home to Bridgwater, Somerset to finalise preparations for a whirlwind three-month tour of seven Fringe Festivals in western North America from July through September 2002. Accompanied by Worm-Hole Production Manager Catherine Skinner, Niki wowed Fringe audiences in the Canadian cities of Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Edmonton, Alberta; and, Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia; plus, in the United States in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington.
Lasting 70 minutes, Worm-Hole is a production with many layers beyond the surface storyline. Expertly constructed with many symbolic elements, it demands much of its audience and - as Niki herself has admitted - is not for everyone. But the risk has been more than justified with an overwhelming percentage of audience responses and critics' reviews filled with praise for her performance. Niki also captured the Best Dance/Physical Theatre Performance Award (as voted upon by audiences) at the 2002 Victoria Fringe Festival.
Below the official Worm-Hole promo photo (which immediately follows), you will find various links to other Worm-Hole pages in this section which include reviews and related material from Niki's North American Fringe Tour, a listing of Worm-Hole past performances, writings by Niki herself including a partial tour diary, a transcript of a radio interview of Niki, biographies and show credits, more photographs, and other writings in connection with the tour. We hope you enjoy your visit and invite you to learn more about this fabulous debut solo performance and tour - a performance that Niki continues to present from time-to-time to appreciative audiences.
Reviews: Edmonton |
Minnesota | Seattle | Victoria |
Winnipeg |
Audience Raves
Other: Past Performances | The Radio Interview | Biographies & Credits
Dance Today | Motorcycle Mummer | Niki's Adventure Diary
Editor's Notebook | Back to Archive Home Page
Top & Middle: Steve Welsh
Bottom Photo: Doug Moir
