What if Toronto’s streetlights were run by tiny mouse-like creatures? Or a rooster, the last of his kind in the city, had to fight for his right to belong?
These whimsical ideas are just a small glimpse into the enchanting world of Unbelievably Believable, created by playwright and director Catherine Maleikova. She is a storyteller known for blending heartfelt emotion, playful imagination, and deeply personal themes. And she puts these talents to work as the founder of the Dora Mavor Moore Award-nominated Twisted Dog Theatre, whose mission is to provide captivating entertainment for families with children.
A love letter to Toronto
Maleikova and Twisted Dog Theatre’s newest work, currently premiering at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, is a fantasy-infused tribute to Toronto that captures the unexpected connections that define the city. “Every word and phrase in this play is a love letter to Toronto and its people. I am endlessly in love with this city and its residents,” Maleikova enthuses.
Maleikova used to live in Cabbagetown on Winchester Street, and its intersection with Parliament sparked the idea for the play’s foundational story about two small, mouse-like creatures who operate the streetlights, changing the lights and controlling the flow of traffic. Dreamy Mouse will not stop bringing her dreams to life, even though her co-worker, Practical Mouse, is deeply grounded in reality. On a December evening just before the holidays, the two embark on a journey filled with magical winter horses, dragons, talking oceans, and unforgettable characters, who include a seagull who sings Christmas carols after swallowing an advent calendar, the aforementioned rooster who defends his place in the city, and even a raccoon hired as Santa’s helper.
Set at the bustling intersection of Jarvis and Richmond, the play uses Toronto’s neighbourhoods, landmarks, and Maleikova’s own experiences as integral elements of its story and characters. Performed by Katie Crompton, Gregory Katsenelson, and Sophie St. Jean, the production also features choreography by St. Jean and music by composer Andy Lubenec, with additional songs by Aimee Carty, Sally Jaeger, Karolina Stepien, Ivan Maleikov, and Maleikova herself.
A prism for the city’s people and stories
Not only the city’s places, but its people provided a deep wellspring of inspiration. “Every day, I used to go to Mystic Muffin for lunch with my colleagues while writing the script for the play,” Maleikova recalls. While searching for “a figure to represent a worldly god, a stargazer, a magician – someone who knows everything, past and future”, she realized that the answer she sought was right in front of her.
She was speaking with Mystic Muffin owner Elias Makhoul one day when she realized that “with Elias, you’re not just at a café. You’re at home, speaking with an old friend. And then it hit me: he was the figure I had been searching for.” Makhoul’s story would shape the play’s emotional core. “Elias is an incredibly kind, generous, humble, warm, and understanding person. His community loves him deeply. During difficult times, he fed people for free, who had lost their jobs. He is conscientious and honest. His story is written on the walls of his café, and when he agreed to become the inspiration for one of the characters in the play, I felt like the script finally came to life.”
Other characters in Unbelievably Believable reflect personal moments from her life. “The dreamy little mouse in the story, who wears a broken mug as a shield from the cruel world, was inspired by my daughter and by myself as a child,” Maleikova explains. “A deeply personal moment in the play—a scene where a son talks to his father at the edge of a dream, maybe at 3 a.m.—was inspired by my late grandmother. The words they share are ones I wish I could have said to her. In a way, writing that scene feels like making a long-distance call to her, hoping she can hear me.”
Still other inspirations were provided by the city’s stories. “I once heard about a rooster living in someone’s backyard in Toronto,” Maleikova recalls. “Roosters are prohibited in the city, and after someone reported it, the rooster was ‘removed.’ I was struck by the pain and loss hidden in that word—‘removed.’ It inspired me to create a little rooster-chicken character in my play, perhaps the last one in Toronto.” This character, like his creator, “is deeply in love with the city, and fights for his right to live here.” And as it turns out, “he’s also the favourite character of the actress who plays three different roles in the show.”
Bringing the boundless imagination of childhood to life
For Maleikova, puppetry is an art form that brings her characters to life in a way no other medium can. “Instead of costumes and artificial mouse ears, I wanted the puppets to feel like an extension of the actors—just like when children play with toys, giving them their own voices and personalities,” she says.
Her creative process involves revisiting the boundless imagination of childhood. “Throughout the months of working on the script, I tried to think like a child—boldly, freely, without barriers. Then, carefully, like carrying a jug of water, I worked to preserve and transfer that delicate sense of harmony between the real person and the puppet into the script without losing it.” For example, she envisioned a puppet-mask that the designer struggled at first to create . . . only to have it turn out better than they imagined. Though ultimately, she elected not to hide the actors, but to have them work live, in front of the audience. “This creates curiosity,” she explains, “and at some point, you can no longer tell where the person ends and the brave, last little rooster in Toronto begins.”
Projection design by Serge Man and lighting design by Ivan Maleikov add further layers of surrealism, creating a theatrical dreamscape that is both magical and grounded in reality. With all of these fantastical elements in play, “how could I not believe that the ocean could call a fish in an aquarium at the library through a seashell when it’s happening right in front of me?” Maleikova smiles.
Sparking curiosity, dreams . . . and transformation
Pulling back to discuss the overall show, Maleikova is delighted by how “when you watch a play based on an original story, you have no idea what to expect—and that sparks curiosity.” As a result, “you listen more closely. I remember how much I loved fairy tales as a child, and now my daughter, when she was just two, would ask me to tell her bedtime stories about herself. Sometimes, I would tell her up to twelve tiny stories in one night. That hunger for stories, that vivid curiosity—‘What happens next?’—I’ve carried that spirit into this play.”
Maleikova sees this curiosity shaping the audience’s experience in unique ways. “I love how the audience’s attention shifts from a larger actor to a smaller character: how the proportions change, and how the characters’ fantasies leap into reality. This play is like a dream within a dream. And we never truly know if it’s Dreamy Mouse dreaming, or a little boy. But these characters speak so honestly that I believe them. I trust them to let me dream their dreams and see their visions.”
All of the play’s characters reflect Maleikova’s focus on dreams and the possibilities they open up – which enables the narrative to resonate across generations. “Every character in this story undergoes a transformation,” she explains – even Practical Mouse, so focused on stability, who insists, ‘The only buttons worth pressing are the ones that make sense.’ To him, dreams are distractions which steal precious time from achieving real goals. “Yet even Practical Mouse can’t fully resist the fantasies that seep into his cozy routine, inspired by the imaginative musings of Dreamy Mouse. No matter how hard he shields himself with cynicism, there’s something magical in the air—something that only happens around Christmas—that breaks through his defenses.”
Maleikova sees such transformations as reflective of the fundamental choice underpinning adult life. “I believe all of us, as adults, face this dilemma: Should we work a secure job, or chase a dream? Should we let curiosity roam free? Should we follow our inner voice, or stick to the well-trodden path?”
Her characters also find unexpected ways to adapt to the realities of modern life with charm and humour. “The Raccoon is a product of the system. Entirely indifferent to children or gifts, he somehow manages to become the Tooth Fairy of his neighbourhood, Santa’s helper, and the local inspecting raccoon” – a role which was inspired by the raccoon inspector on Maleikova’s street. “He performs all these roles with an air of utter boredom, but also with a sense of reliability,” she notes, “which makes him particularly beloved by adult audiences. Meanwhile, children adore his completely charming appearance.”
Finding – and being moved by – everyday magic
If transformation is the choice to pursue a dream or change one’s path, its precondition and accompaniment is the connection to something beyond the self that is elusive, ineffable . . . magic.
“From a young age, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of ‘everyday magic’ that happens accidentally, almost by chance,” Maleikova notes. “It’s the kind of feeling that emerges right before Christmas, when you’re the most exhausted person in December, rushing from point A to point B, bundled in a winter coat, measuring the weather in degrees, the city by whether the bus is late, and people by whether they bumped into you. And then, in the midst of all that chaos, you suddenly stop, pull down your hood, and catch a fleeting sense of magic—a delicate thread that ties you to your childhood.”
In the play, Maleikova embodies this expectancy of Christmas in a seagull who has swallowed an entire advent calendar. “I actually did this as a child!” she laughs. As a result of this festive meal, it is unable to stop singing Christmas carols. “I’m not exploring the Christmas celebration itself”, she clarifies, “but rather the anticipation of it.” As an example, “The main character believes that magic winter with snow will arrive today, riding in on a white horse. And I believe her!”
And she sees magic knitting the whimsical tales of Unbelievably Believable into the larger tapestry formed by the holiday shows on offer in her beloved city from “every artist, creative individual, and collective in Toronto. Together, we work on an invisible, intangible factory of impressions, creating moments of joy and happy smiles. And I’m thrilled that this year, the city’s diverse Christmas lineup has been enriched by my play.”
She’s also utterly, magically, winningly confident that “those who resonate with my vision of children’s theatre, who appreciate puppets as works of art, will find their way to the theatre, and we will meet there. After all, there are quite a few of us who are in love with this whimsical city, and, as they say, we are all twisted here!”
Running until December 15, 2024, audiences of all ages can revel in the wonder of Unbelievably Believable at the Red Sandcastle Theatre. For tickets, visit twisteddog.ca.
© Arpita Ghosal, Sesaya Arts Magazine, 2024
