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Wingéd
writer + performer
David Benjamin Tomlinson
director
Diana Kolpak
lighting design
Sharon DiGenova
projection design
Jacob Niezwiecki
exhibit curator
Jessica Cimo
a brash, fearless reinterpretation of 3 mythical beings...
Wingéd inspects and dissects relationships between fathers and sons, friends and lovers, predator and prey…and serves up a clarion call for the transformation of humankind.
In Sunstroke: Icarus Speaks, Icarus ruminates on sons who dare fly past their fathers. Lucifer works through the unexpected transition from favourite to feared in Red Eye Open: The Lucifer Illuminations. In Rise: Song of the Phoenix, a man answers an astonishing call in his right hip, and discovers the burning, yearning God within.
DeLeon White Gallery, Toronto, 2010
★★★★/4
[Tomlinson's] words interweave philosophical musings with a surprise dose of informal humour, while his movements are fluid and graceful, almost like a dance... Wingéd is a riveting performance, with each character coming to life, reaching out and connecting with the audience. Mira Saraf - EYEweekly.com
Tomlinson takes the audience on a journey that begins with a stomach-churning fall and ends with transcendence...The design provides an added lift, with Sharon DiGenova’s lighting and Jacob Niedzwiecki’s video and imaging lifting us out of our everyday world. Jon Kaplan - NOW Magazine
Linked by their (in)ability to fly, all three characters are played by an ever-changing Tomlinson and given their own monologue. The stories are unexpectedly and originally transformed...Tomlinson provides witty back-stories and deadly accurate observations about humanity. Gabrielle Charron-Merritt - MONDO Magazine
The intimate setting allows Tomlinson to address audience members as friends or colleagues. Surrounding paintings and sculptures on display, video screens overhead and a strobe light mark the play as a multimedia endeavour worth seeing.
Rosalyn Kelada-Sedra - Plank Magazine
photo © Kathleen Finlay