Ronnie Burkett’s Wonderful Joe brings humour, heartbreak and the art of marionettes to the Centaur
October 21, 2026 • WestmountMag.ca
A man and his dog lose their home. Faced with separation, they set out together into a world that seems increasingly unwilling to make room for them. It is a simple premise, but in the hands of Canadian puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, it opens onto something far larger: a story about belonging, the fragility of community and the stubborn persistence of wonder. But beyond the promise of renewal lies a harder question: renewal for whom? In Joe’s story, losing an address also means losing the relationships, routines and modest certainties that make a place a home.
A story about belonging, the fragility of community and the stubborn persistence of wonder.
Playing at Centaur Theatre until November 1, Wonderful Joe introduces Montreal audiences to Joe and his faithful companion, Mister. Their journey takes them through a fractured landscape populated by outcasts, unlikely guides and familiar figures recast in unexpected roles. Burkett supplies the voices and movements of the characters himself, bringing an entire theatrical community to life through his marionettes.
The Montreal premiere marks the return of an artist already familiar to Centaur audiences. Burkett previously appeared at the theatre with The Daisy Theatre in 2018, Little Dickens in 2019 and Little Willy in 2023. Here, his intricate puppetry serves a story rooted in some of the most pressing questions facing contemporary cities: who gets to stay, who is pushed aside, and what disappears when a neighbourhood loses its people?
When a home becomes someone else’s opportunity
Joe’s predicament begins with displacement. His apartment building is to be redeveloped into an arts centre, an uncomfortable irony in a work of theatre concerned with the lives that urban reinvention can erase. A project ostensibly devoted to cultural enrichment threatens the community already living on the premises. That contradiction gives the production a particular resonance for a Montreal readership.
For Joe and Mister, the journey begins when the world shrinks their lives. Burkett’s theatre responds by giving them room.
Burkett approaches those stakes through individuals rather than abstractions. The people surrounding Joe are not simply illustrations of a social problem. Their voices and histories form the substance of the world he inhabits: gentrification and the rising cost of living as the work’s contemporary relevance. Joe and Mister’s departure therefore carries more than the uncertainty of a journey.
Fantasy with its feet on the pavement
The adventure that follows refuses the boundaries of straightforward realism. Joe encounters figures such as Mother Nature, Santa Claus, Jesus, and the Tooth Fairy, alongside unhoused performers who build theatre from cardboard and memory. The familiar and the fantastical share the same unsettled terrain.
The relationship between Joe and Mister provides the emotional centre. Against the larger upheaval of displacement, separating a man from his dog makes the stakes immediate and personal. Whatever else Joe may lose, he is determined to preserve their companionship.
The production’s humour sits alongside that vulnerability. Early reviews describe a work that moves between bawdy comedy, tenderness and difficult material, resisting the assumption that a puppet story must be either innocent entertainment or pure escapism. Yet the appeal of this form does not depend on knowing the artist’s résumé. It depends on an audience accepting an improbable transformation: carved and costumed figures becoming people whose fortunes matter.
The person behind the strings
Burkett’s theatrical practice makes animation part of the experience. He is both performer and manipulator, giving the marionettes distinct voices, gestures and personalities while remaining their visible human source. A change in movement or vocal rhythm can introduce another character without requiring another actor to enter.
He also designed the production’s marionettes, sets and costumes. John Alcorn wrote the original music and lyrics, and Kevin Humphrey designed the lighting. Behind the solo performance stands a wider network of makers and production specialists whose work supports the precision of what happens onstage.
Burkett’s standing in Canadian theatre extends well beyond his Centaur appearances. His honours include the Siminovitch Prize, an OBIE Award and the 2024 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Compassion without easy reassurance
Critical responses to Wonderful Joe have praised Burkett’s craftsmanship and emotional range while also questioning aspects of the storytelling, notably the extended introduction to Joe’s community, which is somewhat expository.
The encounters suggest a world in which imagination remains available even when material security does not. Joe’s insistence on seeing possibility in a damaged landscape is not quite the same as refusing to acknowledge its damage. Instead, it lets the play ask what people can still offer one another when the structures meant to protect them fail. The material is explicitly intended for adults and older teenagers, and the Centaur restricts admission to those aged 16 and over. Reviews identify subjects including child abuse, sex work, addiction and sexual identity, making clear that the production’s whimsical elements do not soften every edge. Its premise and reception point to a work concerned with the dignity of people too easily dismissed. Its central gesture is to bring those lives into focus: not as an anonymous population displaced by change, but as individuals with attachments, memories and stories.
Performance information
Wonderful Joe, a production of Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes, continues at Centaur Theatre, 453 Saint-François-Xavier Street in Old Montreal, until November 1, 2026.
Published adult ticket prices are $49 and $59, with other rates available for eligible patrons. Admission is restricted to ages 16 and over. For tickets and performance times, contact Centaur’s box office at 514-288-3161 or consult the Centaur’s website.
Images courtesy of Centaur Theatre
Centaur Theatre Company is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating, developing, producing and presenting an array of plays. Through our plays and other theatrical explorations from the local, national, and international scene, we aim to inspire ardour and relevance that speak directly to the modern human experience.
