Audience Response - Yours to Break

“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
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“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
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“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
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“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.
'Why?' as a state of experience without an answer became a clear moment of beauty.
Anne Bourne
Composer & Performer
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“Your show was beautiful. Many heart-stopping moments. The boxing is such a simple and
lovely metaphor for it all. And I loved how so many of the arrangements took familiar
pieces and then stood them on their heads. All very exciting…...”
Patricia Rozema
Filmmaker, Mansfield Park
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“I attended the show last night and as always I was••moved by the depths of your courage
and your••capacities to expose your vulnerability and thus••allow the vulnerability••and
capacities of the audience to open and resonate with you.••“
Lisa Herman
Novelist and Therapist
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“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
Painter
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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
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“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
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“Thank you for the incredibly beautiful, harrowing piece you have put together. It's one of
those things I'm just so glad I was able to see and experience...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
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Kudos!•• Congratulations! and thank you for your wisdom and expression and sharing with
us all.••…..the power of your and dan's performances, the••staging and script.
A beautiful, honest••and moving••portrayal of relationship…..It is terrific to see an artist so
expressive of/with her feelings, and your voice is magnificent.”
Debra Joy Eklove,
General public
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“Yours to Break is evocative of pain and joy, transparently woven together…I felt hot and
cold watching: I had to remove my glasses as the piece felt almost too close to this
vulnerable place we know in ourselves. Fides' voice transcends all emotions.”
Marie-Héléne Fontaine
actress and visual artist
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“I hope the end was as sweet as the conception. You can be very proud of creating 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
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The show is a very unique form of spectacle which blends poetry, voice, music and
storytelling using the full array of human emotions. I especially appreciated the intimacy of
the performance and the feeling I had that the performers were at all times truly in the
moment. Beautiful film, set and lighting.
Marie-Josée Chartier
Choreographer and Director
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“I thought the show was wonderful. I was very moved.•• We were all amazed at how your
voice could be so full and constant no matter what you were doing with your body.•• I also
thought the writing was wonderful and such an undertaking to deliver, wow!•• Bravo!”••
Laurel James
Primary School Teacher
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“It is not often that for almost two weeks after a play I am still responding to it. Your
original, heartfelt approach to interweaving the range of emotions each character is having
is part of why I was so moved by your creation. 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
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“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
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“I saw your show today and am still "processing" - a mysterious and unravelling feeling I
can't quite put into words. Thank you for an exquisite and brave performance. Being in the
presence of such••unedited••and pure emotional vulnerability is freeing....”
Janet Beauchamp
Performer