A formative and respected figure in Montreal’s vibrant cultural scene since the early 90s, Catherine Kidd has forged a reputation as one of the nation’s most surprising and inspiring voices for page and stage.
Kidd’s multimedia collaborations and solo works have toured extensively to poetry, music, and theatre festivals throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, UK, US and Canada.
Her solo show Sea Peach toured internationally for six years, from a small self production in an abandoned pool in Montreal to prestigious theatre venues such as Toronto’s Harbourfront Theatre and Singapore’s Esplanade by the Bay. Her performed poetry has played to audiences from Whitehorse to Oslo, small clubs in New York to amphitheatres in Cape Town. The opening chapter of her début novel Missing the Ark was nominated for the Journey Prize. Kidd’s work questions boundaries and defies simple categories.
Catherine currently lives in Montreal where she is hard at work on her next solo show: Hyena Subpoena. Her published writing includes two critically-acclaimed collections of poetry Sea Peach (book/cd) and Bipolar Bear (book/dvd), and a novel Missing the Ark.
She graduated with great honours from Concordia University’s MA in Literature & Creative Writing program in 1997
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Our city’s newest superstar… a knockout… This Kidd is pure gold.
Montreal Gazette
Clearly one of Canada’s most talented wordsmiths.
Broken Pencil (Toronto)
[Kidd's show] should win you over with its reflections on life, love, and the lessons animals teach us… slight but dominating this ‘goddess of beats’ transfixes with her adult blend of Dr. Seuss and Aesop’s Fables.
The Scotsman (Edinburgh)
Catherine Kidd’s performance style makes me think of Dr. Seuss meets Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom meets David Suzuki meets Vaudeville meets Patti Smith. Yeah, it is that good. It’s a musical theatre crash course in punk rock zoology.
T.L. Cowan (Calgary International Spoken Word Festival)
I was so moved by your magnificent piece last night Cat.
The themes of so-called mental illness, the horrors and ineffectiveness of psychiatry, the violence of cookie cutter mentality and sexual assault, and the sense in which there is no good help anywhere were all woven together so brilliantly. And yet, throughout it all, the tremendous spirit of the animals and the artist each with their own ways and things to teach us.
I never felt lectured to (and with those themes it cousl have so easily gone there). I felt that you took care of the audience with pieces alternating between strark and bare and musically accompanied so the 80 minutes flew by (except for the cold!) and we could stay sooo present with you despite the intensity and pain of the themes.
Your physical theatre was also such a treat–fabulous especially with the bullying story and the tire. Wow. There was a man behind me who chuckled with delight every time you something acrobatic.
And your singing voice also so good.
The piece was accomplished both in form and content. I hope that you take it on the road. Psychiatry students need to see it. The so-called mentally ill need to see it. Holy crap, it was soooo good!
Alison