Media Release

MADDADDAM Closes the 2025/26 Season

Choreographed by Wayne McGregor, Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s Trilogy With Music by Max Richter  
Onstage June 13 – 21

May 12, 2026… Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, shared today that the 2025/26 season will conclude with the return of Wayne McGregor’s MADDADDAM. Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s celebrated novel trilogy with a score by internationally acclaimed composer Max Richter, MADDADDAM is onstage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto June 13 – 21.  

A co-production with The Royal Ballet, MADDADDAM was created in Toronto at the National Ballet and had its world premiere at the Four Seasons Centre in November 2022. The Royal Ballet presented the London premiere to sold-out houses in November 2024 and will remount the production in February 2027 to mark McGregor’s 20th anniversary as Resident Choreographer with the company. The highly anticipated Toronto revival includes some updates from the London production.  

Exploring themes of extinction and invention, hubris and humanity, MADDADDAM splices together aspects of Atwood's activism and her connection to Canada. This post-apocalyptic world is brought to life by designers We Not I with bold costumes by Gareth Pugh, lighting by Lucy Carter, film design by Ravi Deepres and dramaturgy by Uzma Hameed. 

McGregor is a multi-award-winning British choreographer, director, curator and author. He is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor, encompassing creative collaborations in dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He is also Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet, Director of Dance for the Venice Biennale and is regularly commissioned by and has works in the repertories of the most important dance companies around the world. In 2022, McGregor choreographed ABBA Voyage, the revolutionary concert that launched the Swedish pop sensations back onstage. In 2011, he was awarded a CBE for Services to Dance, a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Prix de Lausanne in 2021 and was appointed a Knighthood by His Majesty King Charles III in 2024. 

Canada’s most decorated author, 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. In November 2025, she published her first memoir titled Book of Lives; A Memoir of Sorts and her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. 

Richter stands as one of the most prodigious figures on the contemporary music scene, with a catalogue that boasts over three billion streams. In addition to his wildly successful albums Memoryhouse, The Blue Notebooks and SLEEP, his music has become a mainstay for many of the world’s leading ballet companies, including The Mariinsky Ballet, Teatro alla Scala Milan, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He has also written award-winning music for over 50 film and TV projects and his recent score for Hamnet earned him an Oscar and BAFTA nomination.    

Casting to be announced at a later date.  

About MADDADDAM 

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2025/26 Season Sponsor: BMO  

IG Private Wealth Management Presents MADDADDAM 

Lead philanthropic support for MADDADDAM is provided by The Walter Carsen New Creations Fund, Tony Arrell, C.M. & Anne Arrell, Rosamond Ivey, Tim & Frances Price and Gretchen Ross & Donald Ross, O.C. Additional support is provided by The Gail Hutchison Fund and The Producers’ Circle.   

The commissioned score for MADDADDAM is underwritten by Noreen Taylor, C.M. & David Staines, C.M., O.Ont.   

The Producers’ Circle (2023): Gail & Mark Appel, John & Claudine Bailey, Inger Bartlett & Marshal Stearns, Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, 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 Lozinski, O.C. & Joan Lozinski, O.C., The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland, Sandra Pitblado, C.M. & Jim Pitblado, C.M., The Harry & Lillian Seymour Family Foundation and The Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation. 

The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council; the Government of Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage with the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages; and the Government of Ontario with the Honourable Stan Cho, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming and Minister of Sport.   

Koto Ishihara in MADDADDAM. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

For more information and interview opportunities, please contact: 

Touchwood PR                
Andréa Grau, Founder and Owner
Chelsea Cabello, Senior Publicist
Sydney Clarke, Publicist
NBOC@touchwoodpr.com 

The National Ballet of Canada
Catherine Chang, Associate Director of Communications & Content Strategy
Sarah Johnsen, Interim Communications Manager
Media@national.ballet.ca