AGE IS A FEELING Comes to Soulpepper Theatre This Month

Soulpepper Theatre will present the Canadian Premiere of Age is a Feeling, the award-winning smash hit by Dora-award-winning artist Haley McGee (The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale). The show will run May 29 -June 16, 2024, at Soulpepper Theatre in association with the Luminato Festival Toronto.

Olivier-nominated and Fringe-First winning Age is a Feeling premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 before transferring to Soho Theatre in London for two sold-out runs. Inspired by hospices, mystics, and trips to the cemetery, this solo show wrestles with our endless chances to change course while we're alive. It is a covert rallying cry against cynicism and regret—a call to seize our time. 

Written and performed by Haley McGee, this never-the-same-twice show is a gripping story about how our relationship with mortality shapes the way we live. Inspired by real-life conversations and research, Age is a Feeling is the story of one person's life from their 25th birthday until the end: exploring the glorious and melancholy unknowability of human life, the joys and tragedies of getting older, and the sides of people we never see. 

At every performance, the audience chooses to hear six of twelve stories dipping in and out of one person's lifespan as it unfolds across the show. Depending on the audience's choices, 180 different potential versions can be heard with different combinations of stories. Age is a Feeling has also been translated into multiple languages. It is touring in China and will open in Brazil, Germany, India, and Turkey in respective languages, with local artists and creative teams. 

“We are thrilled to welcome back Haley McGee to Soulpepper with the North American premiere of Age is a Feeling. We eagerly awaited her return after the extraordinary run of The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale here at Soulpepper in 2022. Hailey is a visionary artist. Her storytelling is so masterful and precise yet deeply personal, sincere, and moving at the same time. Soulpepper audiences would have first seen a glimpse of Age is a Feeling in Soulpepper's Fresh Ink Series in 2020. Since then, it has been making waves, premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, garnering an Olivier nomination, a Fringe First Award, and two sold-out runs at London's Soho Theatre. We have been waiting four years for this moment, and I can't wait for audiences to experience it.” - Weyni Mengesha, Artistic Director.

“There's just no other like Haley McGee”  (Toronto Star) Born and raised in KW, Haley McGee is a writer and actor who spent a decade working at theatres across Canada (Canadian Stage, Tarragon, Off Mirvish, Blyth, The Arts Club, among many others) before relocating to London UK. Specializing in solo shows, she wrote and performed Age is a Feeling to sold-out audiences at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, winning a Fringe First and transferring to Soho Theatre London for two sold-out runs. The show was subsequently nominated for a 2023 Olivier Award. Haley won a 2023 Dora Award for her solo show The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale, adapted into a book of the same name, published by Penguin Random House Canada. Haley's toured her other solo shows to 11 countries, where they've enjoyed sold-out performances, won awards, and received rave reviews. Her writing has been translated into 10 languages. She guest-starred on Doctor Who, appeared on BBC Radio 4 Dramas and created an installation work at one of London's busiest tube stations. Haley is also a prolific voice actor, an improviser with London's Free Association, and offers online courses in solo show creation and self-producing theatre. 

Mitchell Cushman is a director, creator, and founding Artistic Director of Outside the March. Mitchell's work has been seen on stages as large as the Royal Alexandra Theatre and the Stratford Festival, in spaces as intimate as kindergarten classrooms and living rooms, and in locales as far-flung as London, Buenos Aires, Edinburgh, Munich, Finland, and Japan. Directing credits for Outside the March include No Save Points, Trojan Girls, The Flick, The Tape Escape, Dr. Silver, Jerusalem, TomorrowLove, Mr. Burns, Vitals, Passion Play, Terminus, Mr. Marmalade. Mitchell is also the Co-Creator of BRANTWOOD, Canada's largest immersive musical theatre experience, which received the 2015 Audience Choice Dora Award. Mitchell has received two Dora Awards for Outstanding Direction, four Dora Awards for Outstanding Production, the Siminovitch protégé award, and the Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards for Best Production and Best Director. 

Adam Brace was Associate Director at Soho Theatre, where he worked across Comedy, Theatre, and Performance Art. His directing included all of Sh!t Theatre's work, including the multi-award-winning Drink Rum With Expats. In comedy, he developed a varied range of work, which included six Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated shows, 2 Herald Angel Award winners, 2 Barry Award Nominees, and a Southbank Award. As a dramaturg, he worked with writers including Lucy Prebble, Nick Payne, and Vicky Jones. As a writer, his first full-length play, Stovepipe, was transferred to London in collaboration with The National Theatre. His second full-length play, They Drink It In The Congo, was produced and premiered at the Almeida Theatre. Shorter plays include Midnight Your Time, a monologue for Diana Quick revived online by The Donmar Warehouse in 2020. His first screenplay, Best, directed by William Oldroyd, won Best Short Film at Sundance London, was nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance USA, and has screened at over 20 International Festivals.

 

 

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