"AYELEN" BY GILDA MONREAL

For the SummerWorks Festival 2015

Ayelen tells a tale of international industrial exploitation through the lens of mythology and allegory... Tricksters, bird spirits, and blind demonic gods have to emerge from their otherworld to be a vehicle of the play’s message into our own.

The set design and costuming came together to create imagery and atmosphere that was in equal turns vibrant, dazzling and sinister. Ornate thrones and crowns provided dangerous majesty, while bright and intricate makeup and costuming gave a sense of the shining spirits and culture under threat of being crushed and ravaged. The set design and costume work from Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky earned Ayelen an honourable mention for design from the festival, one that was richly deserved. The show’s staging had the headiness of an ancient tale told around a fire, creating images from the depths of imagination.  

-The Torontoist

Photos curtesy of Akipari (2015)