Epidermis Circus
The weirdest puppet show you've ever seen
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The weirdest puppet show you've ever seen ~
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Find us near you - Tour Dates and Tickets
Show description
This is one of the most surprising shows, masterfully performed by puppeteer Ingrid Hansen (Fraggle Rock, Sesame Workshop.) When her fingers move, they instantly come to life. She needs nothing more than a little inspiration to invent comical characters: a mischievous baby, an endearing shark, a clementine doing a striptease... With the help of cameras and mirrors, her enchanting, inventive, and unbridled little world is projected onto a giant screen. A surreal, funny, and breathtaking universe. SPICY, FOR AGE 14+.
Performance Length: 75 min.
Language: 80% nonverbal. 20% English OR French.
Techniques: Hand puppetry, projections, mirror effects, illusions, and objects
CONTENT WARNING
Epidermis Circus includes cartoonish sexual content, curse words, and puppet suicide.
There are moments of dark lighting, loud music, and surprises.
Recommended for Audiences age 14+.
WINNER
Ed Fringe HoldOver Award
PRESS
“Utterly magical, insanely inventive, wickedly funny, BEAUTIFULLY TWISTED, and occasionally erotic! Imagine Shari Lewis possessed by David Lynch”
★★★★★
“Surpassing the world of the weird, the zany antics of Epidermis Circus live in a universe of absolutely absurd. ”
★★★★★
Jaycie Buben, All About Solo NY
“Hansen turns anything and everything into a puppet and makes it funny. A MUST-SEE!”
“GENIUS PHYSICAL COMEDY!”
“Immensely funny, creative, uproarious and surprising...Her physicality is impeccable.”
“An amazingly versatile physical comedian with a knack for bringing inanimate objects to life.”
Photo: Helen Cyr
Credits
Produced by SNAFU Society of Unexpected Spectacles
Co-Created & Directed by Britt Small
Co-Created & Performed by Ingrid Hansen
Co-Produced by, and with creative contributions from, Kathleen Greenfield
Music Composed by Hank Pine and The Merkin Sisters
Costume Design by JIMBO The Drag Clown (James Insell)
Stage Management by Kenny Streule and Andrea Lemus
Additional puppetry coaching & jokes from Mike Petersen, Rod Peter Jr, Anand Rajaram & Victor Dolhai
Thank yous
This spicy puppetry cabaret was created with support from the CRD Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Early development of Epidermis Circus was also supported by and Atomic Vaudeville, the National Arts Centre's #CanadaPerforms initiative, the OAC’s Theatre Creators Reserve as recommended by the Puppetmongers, and Impulse Theatre's Peekfest Residency.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Ingrid Hansen
Co-Artistic Producer of SNAFU
Co-Creator, Performer and Co-Producer of Epidermis Circus
About Ingrid(She/her) Raised by gregarious Danish immigrants, Ingrid is Canadian artist, and a tree climber whose purse is always full of snacks. Ingrid puppeteers on television for Sesame and The Jim Henson Company. She plays Heart, a lovable orange monster on Helpsters, Sesame Workshop’s Emmy-Award-Winning series for AppleTV+. She also puppeteers and voices characters on Henson’s new Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock series
With SNAFU, Ingrid has co-authored and co-produced 21 live shows including Epidermis Circus, Little Orange Man, Kitt & Jane, Interstellar Elder, Table Top Tales, Snack Music and The Merkin Sisters. SNAFU’s work has been presented by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, the Festival Cervantino in Mexico, by David Byrne of the Talking Heads, The Lincoln Centre in NYC, and more.
She co-wrote a dark pop album with Shirley Gnome and The Merkin Sisters. She posts stoopiddances and puppet videos on Instergum @iamingridhansen
Britt Small
Director & Co-Creator of Epidermis Circus
About Britt(She/her) Britt was born in The Pas and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba before playing hockey for McGill University in Montreal and ultimately settling on Vancouver Island where she earned her MFA in Directing at the University of Victoria.
Britt has over 20 years experience as a director, producer, performer, creator and teacher of Physical Theatre and Clown. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Atomic Vaudeville company, original producers of hit musical Ride the Cyclone. Recently she directed the World Tour of Jimbo's Drag Circus. As an actor she recently played Valere in La Bete for The Great Works Festival. Other roles include Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Harpo in Animal Crackers. So, clowns, lots of ridiculously expressive clowns. She performs musically as Boss Saint B and opened for Peaches on their 2022 Anniversary Tour. Britt has directed Janet Munsil’s Circus Fire and The Ugly Duchess, Jacob Richmond’s Qualities of Zero, Ride the Cyclone and Legoland, The Fantasticks and True West for Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for GVSF, God’s Lake and Castle in the Sky for Castlereigh Theatre, Epidermis Circus for SNAFU, My Chernobyl for Gateway Theatre and The Belfry and local Victoria cult hits The Rocky Horror Show and Hedwig for AV. Britt also works as a mentor, dramaturg and book editor, is currently developing two new Canadian musicals and teaches acting, play building, clown, comedy, movement and improvisation for various stage and film organizations.
Listen to Boss Saint B’s Westcoast Hip-hop
Kathleen Greenfield
Co-Artistic Producer of SNAFU
Co-Producer of Epidermis Circus
About KathleenKathleen (they/she) lives, collaborates and creates new work on the unceded territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. Kathleen’s interests and experience are in site-specific outdoor performance, shadow and object puppetry, clown, ritual and collaborative creation. Kathleen has a BFA in Theatre from the University of Victoria and studied at the Banff Puppet Theatre Intensive in 2012. In 2024 Kathleen was awarded the Pro-Art Alliance Mid-Career Artist Award for their contributions to the regional arts community in Victoria.
In 2013, Kathleen joined SNAFU as Co-Artistic Producer. They have directed three giant roving park shows: Lieutenant Nun in 2015 (co-directed with Mercedes Batiz-Benet, Puente Theatre) New Earth Bandits (2023) and New Earth Bandits 2 (2025). Kathleen has directed the premiere productions of Calling Home: Stories from Military Families (SNAFU, Belfry Incubator), Little Orange Man, Kitt & Jane and Interstellar Elder (SNAFU).
In the summer of 2018, Kathleen directed a rotating double cast of twenty teen performers in a site-specific performance of Concord Floral by Jordan Tannahill. This play was staged in an abandoned Department Store in Downtown Victoria and produced by SKAM.
Kathleen joined the artistic team at William Head Prison in 2013 as a facilitator, workshop leader, assistant director, projection designer, writer and performer for Time Waits for No One: A Prison Play (2014) and HERE: A Captive Odyssey (2015) and The Crossroads: A Prison Cabaret alongside a team of incarcerated participants and outside artists. Kathleen led WHoS participants in the creation of Sleeping Giants (2016) and The Emerald City Project (2019). Kathleen facilitated, recorded & edited the Dark Traveller Prison Podcast in 2020/2021 during pandemic lockdown.
Kathleen has training in Bouffon and clown with Michael Kennard (Mump & Smoot) and Britt Small (Atomic Vaudeville). She performs mind-bending clown rituals on stage with Atomic Vaudeville, and is currently developing a new solo clown show with SNAFU titled, Middle Child.
Kathleen is passionate about supporting artists who are driven to create and produce their own work. They’ve built plays with kids ranging from age 3 to 18, artists with disabilities at Garth Homer Society and WHoS prison theatre alumni-on-parole. Kathleen currently teaches creative development and grant writing to emerging artists at Canadian College of Performing Arts. Kathleen is also Co-Leader of Atomic Vaudeville where they mentor new creators & producers.
Hank Pine
Composer, Epidermis Circus
About HankHank Pine is a queer performer whose psychedelic music hinges upon deliberate lyrics. He puts equal focus on meaningful words as on live performance, and is usually dressed up like some kinda freak.
He has written five musicals: The Tragical Comedy of Punch and Judy for Caravan Farm Theatre, Blisskrieg for Atomic Vaudeville, Tireseias for Phoenix Theatre, Yukon Famous for the Yukon Arts Society, and Heatseeker: a Musical about Gayness and Grindr.
The Merkin Sisters
Featured Song ‘Chocola’
About the Merkin SistersMerkin Sisters Ingrid Hansen and Stephanie Morin-Robert met comedy musician Shirley Gnome touring the Canadian Festival circuit and had an instant appreciation for each other’s uncensored, subversive, and empowering humour. “Shirley made me laugh so hard I snorted beer up my nose,” says Hansen. “We instantly felt a connection and knew we wanted to welcome her into our MERKIN EMPIRE.” added Morin-Robert. “Being in the raucous crowd of the Merkin Sister’s shows felt like a newfound solidarity with likeminded people,” Gnome finished. Gnome has been heralded as “The Queen troubadour of intelligent dark-comedy sex balladry” by the Edmonton Sun. Her latest solo album Decoxification went to #1 on the Itunes Comedy Charts in Canada and was nominated for a Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year. Chart-topping Fake Shark front man and Juno award winner Kevvy helmed the production of the Merkin Sisters EP, rounding out this critically acclaimed team.
Listen to More Merkins
Jimbo Insell
Costume Designer of Epidermis Circus
About JimboJimbo is a fabulous drag queen and whimsical clown, innovative designer, jaw-dropping-performer, and all around free spirit. Winner of Ru Pauls’ Drag Race All Stars and Founder of the House of Jimbo, Jimbo is a Victoria-based artist who has designed for film and television and on stage for Victoria’s Atomic Vaudeville (Ride the Cyclone, Rocky Horror, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.)
Kenny Streule
Stage Manager, European Tour
About KennyFrom humble beginnings growing up on a Brome Lake dairy farm southeast of Montreal, Kenny always aspired to be an actor. His passion for creating has led him to establish his own theatre company which produced his first play since high school, City Boy, based on the life of his cousin living in the country. He performed in his first solo autobiographical show, Malunderstood at MainLine Theatre, where he worked as Artistic Producer of MainLine and the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival. The show has toured to across the world including Orlando, where he was Best New Artist at the 2024 FESTN4, Ottawa where it performed its World French premiere at the Undercurrents Festival and most recently in Gothenburg, Sweden for the Gothenburg Fringe Festival. He was the co-chair of the Tour and Artist Relations Committee for the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals which placed him on the board of directors. In November 2023, Kenny became the recipient of the Unsung Hero of the Theatre awarded by the community at the Montreal English Theatre Award. In 2025, he worked as the operations manager for the world’s largest comedy festival, Juste pour Rire/ Just For Laughs Montreal.
Andrea Lemus
Stage Manager, Mexico Tour
About AndreaBorn and raised in Mexico. Andrea graduated from the National Ballet School of Cuba "Fernando Alonso" and later from the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Andrea has been performing with theatre companies in Victoria.
Some credits include: The HalliHippoRhinoCrocodilligator (KTYP), The Guardsman, Ride the Cyclone (Blue Bridge Theatre), 1002 Nights (Story Theatre), It’ll Come to Me (Theatre Skam), Countess Maritza, Flight (POV), The Rocky Horror Show, Mind the Gap, Pandemonium (Atomic Vaudeville).
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