World Premiere
MADDADDAM
Wayne McGregor
World Premiere
MADDADDAM
Wayne McGregor
Wayne McGregor, the multi-award-winning choreographer of Chroma and Genus, has joined forces with one of the world’s greatest living writers, Margaret Atwood, to create a thrilling new ballet triptych for The National Ballet of Canada. MADDADDAM is based on Atwood’s acclaimed novel trilogy, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam. Themes of extinction and invention, hubris and humanity are spliced together with aspects of Atwood's activism and her deep connection to the Canadian landscape, past and present.
MADDADDAM is inspired by Atwood’s speculative fictions, in which, famously, nothing is invented that is not already occurring somewhere in our world. In Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, humanity has been nearly obliterated apart from a small group who must forge a new way of life in the ruins. Characterized by exuberant imagination, disruptive wit and unflinching moral acuity, Atwood’s writing holds up a mirror to the terrifying consequences of out-of-control technological experimentation, greed, misogyny and colonialism.
English choreographer Wayne McGregor has gained international recognition for his kinetic, interdisciplinary approach to dance. He is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor, Artistic Associate at Sadler's Wells Theatre and since 2006, Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet – the first contemporary choreographer ever to hold this position.
Canada’s most decorated author, Margaret Atwood has written more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels and she is published in more than 45 countries worldwide. Her bestseller The Handmaid’s Tale became an award-winning television series and The Testaments, the long-awaited sequel, was the co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.
Born in Germany, Max Richter is an influential composer and musician renowned for combining classical tradition with electronic and contemporary music. His oeuvre includes a bold reworking of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and he composes prolifically for screen and dance. Richter collaborates frequently with English choreographer Wayne McGregor, having composed original music for his ballets Infra, Kairos and Woolf Works, among other projects.
“[Wayne McGregor is] an adventuresome experimenter with a restless mind, intent on pushing his disparate audience, his collaborators and himself.” – The New York Times
“A pioneer in exploiting the links between his art, and the scientific development that have revolutionised 21st-century life.” – The Financial Times
“Art, music, philosophy, science, current events... When McGregor is working at his best, they come together in a magnificently stimulating whole.” – The Telegraph
“Margaret Atwood has long been Canada’s most famous writer, and current events have polished the oracular sheen of her reputation.” – The New Yorker
“Working with dancers is, for me, one of the great pleasures because my world is full of text and ideas and concepts. Dance is kind of a different language. It’s very emotional, but it is, in a way, abstract and nonverbal.” – Max Richter in Vanity Fair
Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy
Choreographer:
Wayne McGregor, CBE
Original Music:
Max Richter
Creative Consultant:
Margaret Atwood
Design:
We Not I
Costume Designer:
Gareth Pugh
Lighting Design:
Lucy Carter
Film Design:
Ravi Deepres
Dramaturgy:
Uzma Hameed
Assistant to the Choreographer:
Jenny Tattersall
Assistant to the Film Designer:
Luke Unsworth
World Premiere: The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, November 23, 2022
Co-produced and commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet (UK).
Lead philanthropic support for MADDADDAM is provided by The Gail Hutchison Fund, The Walter Carsen New Creations Fund and The Producers’ Circle.
The Producers’ Circle: Gail & Mark Appel, John & Claudine Bailey, Inger Bartlett & Marshal Stearns, Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, The Thor E. and Nicole Eaton Family Charitable Foundation, Kevin Garland & Roger Garland, C.M., Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin, The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C., Judy Korthals & Peter Irwin, Mona & Harvey Levenstein, Jerry & Joan Lozinski, The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland, Sandra Pitblado & Jim Pitblado, C.M., The Harry & Lillian Seymour Family Foundation and The Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation.
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