yours to break

"In Yours to Break, writer Fides Krucker and co-creator Dan Wild play two lovers in your typical tumultuous relationship: they meet, fall in love, sing some Hank Williams and then beat the shit out of each other. The show's imaginative use of popular song, impassioned boxing matches and recitations of Helen Humphreys' novel Wild Dogs are often effective. The actors' intense sparring provides a striking visual representation of the characters' chaotic mindsets. The show succeeds as an imaginative, entertaining and thoroughly professional production."
EYE Magazine

"Had Allen Ginsberg not claimed the title for eternity, Howl might have made the best header for Fides Krucker's narrative, a sustained wail of the untamed heart. ...
Twelve hurting songs anchor the emotion of the piece and form a storyline, as a man and a woman ponder their beginning, their agony, their ecstasy and possibly their end, in the wake of a tragic loss...
Krucker responds with Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart," taking the action into a carnal zone with a rawness that exceeds even Joplin's."
Susan Walker, Toronto Star

"this bouquet of songs proves monstrously powerful, particularly when they're served up by Krucker, her voice as thick and rich as aged honey."
John Coulbourn, Toronto Sun

“By keeping everything in flux, the show coaxes us into a layer of existence beyond our daily, habitual ways of relating to the world. In this layer we let go of our judgments and settle into a space ruled by the fragility, resilience and wild pathos of the human heart. What might have been construed, summarily, as an abusive or co-dependent relationship is thrown into a spin by the fluidity of gender roles. The man—while clearly the stronger physically—shows moments of supreme tenderness and vulnerability. The woman sings the angst of every woman who is forever seeking greater intimacy with her mate. And yet—even as she is overpowered and takes a good beating—defies the stereotype of abused woman as victim, thus transporting us to the depths of human longing where the face of our innermost desires is finally revealed.”
Niloo Hodjati
Mathematics Professor, OCAD, novelist

“Thanks again for the wonderful Yours to Break. The performance confirms again for me that you have become one of Canada's most original and valuable artists. It was as if the piece resumed all that you do the best: singing and vocal daring of course, but also so many other things - creating and producing extremely provocative and cutting-edge work, bringing together some of the world's best artists, and above all revealing your life to your audience through your art. It is this truth to yourself and your life that makes your work so transformative, enriching and compelling. The piece has stayed with me in the days since I saw it, and inspired my own thoughts and feelings in a way that few pieces do.”
Richard Armstrong
Vocal Teacher
Roy Hart Theatre, NYU, Banff Centre

“It was exquisite, and haunting. I keep thinking of the two of you up there as frozen music, as sculpture, but the dynamism of the pas de deux also leads me to other places, and to other stage works like La Ronde, or to some of the early works of Hrant Alianak..”
Karen Mulhallen
Editor-in-chief, Descant Magazine

“You challenged yourself with incredible courage for a raw authentic experience of how deeply we fall and crash into each other with bodies, arming our souls for a glimpse of truth and the ecstatic essence of life force creation."
Anne Bourne
Composer & Performer

“Yours to Break is a remarkable tour de force by two skilled performers who synthesize their disparate performance vocabularies into a mesmerizing work of art. My students returned from seeing the performance full of epiphanies about the relationship between their technical training as singers and actors and the expression of a passionate heart. The production is deeply moving – it is also unbelievably skilled. I have never seen (or heard) a singer not only fill the space (from any position whatsoever) but also rip the walls down and scream her pain into the universe. And what mad courage allows Fides Krucker and Dan Wild to actually box each other – no punches pulled?! They walk an edge as performers that many of us aspire to but never reach. But they also demonstrate the extent to which the combination of technique and passion can take us, never safely but with confidence. It is an amazing performance.”
Diana Belshaw
Director, Theatre Performance program
Humber College

“I loved the way the songs moved out of dialogue and then slowly crept into ones' conscious recognition, became their own thing, sometimes for only a few bars and then retreated as the meaning again became supreme. Beautiful.
You are mesmerizing on the stage.”
Mary Newberry
Managing Editor, Descant Magazine

“I thought the show was really good. You were amazing. I really liked the production. I liked your added storyline. Everything felt deeper and more resonant.”
Helen Humphreys
Author, Wild Dogs

“In Yours to Break, Krucker drapes the space with her voice cloaking the audience in a personal and private embrace. Her sensuality pours over the stage and draws out a deep and shared sense of tension and isolation from the theatre-goers and perhaps from the space itself.”
Andrea Donaldson
Writer, Director and Actor

“The love you explore is profound. Both you and Danny are so touchingly human and without the bullshit. Your voice dug inside my belly and I couldn't, wouldn't, didn't want to lose it long after. Your love and humanity sear through, the sensuality, the vulnerability, the rage the passion goddamn it, I wanted to scream at the end of the show but could only let out a few miserly whoops. You stunned the audience, if we can only stammer at the end it is only because you knocked us out. K.O.”
Bogos Kalemkiar
Saw the show yesterday. Wow. I wanted to tell you how magical and amazing it was.. Such strong work. Such stunning visuals.
Yvette Nolan
Artistic Director, Native Earth Theatre

“Thank you for an incredibly crafted and passionate piece of work. I was struck by how every single component, from video to music to movement to text to lighting--worked towards the heart of the show. The performance gave me much to chew on as an artist, a performer and as a lover and mother.”
Deanna Yerinchuk
OISE graduate student

“Thank you for the incredibly beautiful, harrowing piece you have put together...it took me so many places, some very deep and secret and dark and others positively gleeful. La vie! L'amour! Aagggh!!”
Sheila Chevalier
General public

“Yours to Break is evocative of pain and joy, transparently woven together… Fides' voice transcends all emotions.”
Marie-Héléne Fontaine
actress and visual artist

“...a work of beauty and passion, which transcended some of the limitations of the theatre to infiltrate the deepest thoughts and beliefs of the audience.”
Alon Nashman
actor and writer

“I feel art should touch the soul. I feel deeply touched. The very thing which is killing you is the very thing which tells you how alive you are. Thank you for your sensitivity and creativity.”
Murray Keith
General Public

“At times you feel you simply cannot watch – but you are compelled – heartbreakingly honest - relationship in vivisection.”
Soozi Schlanger
Visual artist and lead singer for Swamperella

“Thank you for an exquisite and brave performance. Being in the presence of such••unedited••and pure emotional vulnerability is freeing....”
Janet Beauchamp
Performer