BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE
The Rhubarb Festival

The Rhubarb Festival is Canada’s longest-running new works festival; a hotbed of experimentation, where artists explore new possibilities in theatre, dance, music, and performance art. In 2021, in the throes of a pandemic, Rhubarb proposed an alternative: the creation of a physical performative publication that attempts to capture the energy of Rhubarb and, perhaps, recreate the live performance experience itself.

Over 20 artists responded to the prompt to bring performances to the page, with some projects published in the festival publication itself, and other interventions performed on the book after printing. Contributions ranged from colouring pages to a fever-dream drag performance; from a meal to music inspired by the turning of a page; and from choreographic scores to unearthed histories, real or imagined.