After travelling in Europe and North America to visit and work with a variety of experimental and innovative theatre companies, Jacquie P.A. Thomas assembled a handful of artists in an antiquated, downtown church in 1992. That’s when Gargantua was born.
They began to create theatre in a new way. The vision was to expand the range of influences available to theatre-makers and to create startling new work that fuses all artistic disciplines into a compelling whole. Gradually, a process crystallizes; and through a series of guided exploratory workshops the first work emerges to a blaze of critical acclaim, a remarkable 7 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, and the delight of excited audiences.
The Trials Fortune’s Desire in 1994 was the culmination of three years of work, infused with the energy and inspiration of our core artists and enriched by the influence of a host of guest artists. The ensuing path had its inevitable curves; that has been respected, repeated and refined. 18 years and 28 Dora nominations later, the 9th cycle of work is in development and set to premiere in 2011.
Gargantua is artist driven and works as a creative ensemble, producing groundbreaking projects in two-year cycles. Our seasons therefore consist of the creation, development and performance of new work as well as the remounting of past productions for regional, national and/or international touring. Artistic collaboration has no boundaries. We are a company that believes in the creative potential within our artists and are committed to the continuous exploration of their talents. Our artists animate, sing, light, design, write, compose, move, draw, film, dance, perform, play, transform together we create. The result of this multidisciplinary creation is an ever-evolving, increasingly informed, proudly provocative style all our own. We are Theatre Gargantua.
