Canada’s oldest theatre festival for experimental new work is back at Buddies in Bad Times, from February 4 to 7. Festival Director Ludmylla Reis today announced the full programming lineup of raw, unhinged, and adventurous performance work that can only be experienced at Buddies during Rhubarb! 47. This year's festival also includes can’t-miss After Dark programming, and a forward-thinking Industry Series which culminates in a twelve-hour day of collective engagement, art exploration, and audience experimentation. Entry to Rhubarb!, including shows and late-night programming, is only $20 per night + fees: visit buddiesinbadtimes.com for more details.

This year’s festival features 13 original Canadian works:

• Struggles of No Real Significance by Aiden Robert Bruce with Rachel Rusonik + Sara Starling
• Sandpaper Hammock by Aliyah Aziz
• How to Make a Fishing Net by Bronwyn Keough
• Seasons of Grief by Cass Cervi + Bad Machine (James Jordan)
• ORTOLAN by Eris Thomas + Other Hearts featuring Yousef Kadoura, Eija Loponen Stephenson 
• TESTing Ground: Toronto and the world at Rhubarb! 47 by Erum Khan + isi bhakhomen
• EEK!!! by jonnie lombard with Jenna Green 
• I DESERVE TO FEEL GOOD by Katie Clarke with D. Halpern 
• Watch Me by Lucy Coren + Nevaeh May featuring Nevaeh May, Rinchen Dolma, Brandon Lorimer
• ¿Y si me ven? / If they see me? by Macarena Coronado featuring Emma Cuzzocrea, Osvaldo "Ova" Barreda Buschmann, Seung Eun Cha 차승은
• Transfigure/Transfix by Oliver Pitschner + Jessie Walker + Sophie Parisi, featuring Jonnie Lombard, Bronwyn Keough, Lou Campbell, Laura Spencer
• how the wolf says goodnight by River Oliveira + Max Cameron Fearon
• an-ti-gon-nee by Ludmylla Reis

Each year at Rhubarb!, international touring work with major impact across the globe in terms of queer representation is presented in dialogue with the festival’s new Canadian works. This year, critically-acclaimed touring work TESTO from UK artist Wet Mess joins the lineup, on opening night.

Said Festival Director Ludmylla Reis: “Rhubarb! 47 is titled Hybrid Creatures, as the program has artists mixing and matching odd styles, themes, approaches, and dreams, to generate a being that comes to life on its own. This year, I’m very excited to experience their experiments, witness their artistic detours and engage in different ways to talk about it with each other. I can’t wait to see what hybrids they make and what creatures we will become after four full days at Buddies in Bad Times.”

Added Buddies in Bad Times Artistic Director ted witzel: “Rhubarb! has always been a key driver of Buddies’ ethos of artistic experimentation—it’s a space that encourages artists to push each other to be bolder, more daring, more naked (literally), and more wild—this is the spirit that courses through Buddies as a whole and Rhubarb! is the beating heart that pumps it. Rhubarb! is a place for the unpredictable, the unruly, and the unhinged, allowing artists to play with their most dangerous ideas in a container that was built for them to meet the gamest audience in the city, and it’s all the more exhilarating because all of these presentations are one-time-only.”

Rhubarb! 47 Festival Schedule 

Wednesday, February 4, 2026 – Opening Night

Doors 6:30PM / Show 7:30PM

TESTO by Wet Mess

ORTOLAN by Eris Thomas

I DESERVE TO FEEL GOOD By Katie Clarke

Thursday, February 5, 2026

Doors 6:30PM / Show 7:30PM

How the Wolf Says Goodnight by River Oliveira + Max Cameron Fearon

Seasons of Grief by Cass Cervi + Bad Machine (James Jordan)

Sandpaper Hammock by Aliyah Aziz

Transfigure/Transfix by Oliver Pitschner

Friday, February 6, 2026

Doors 6:30PM / Show 7:30PM / Rhubarb! After Dark 10:30PM

EEK!!! by jonnie lombard

How to Make a Fishing Net by Bronwyn Keough

Watch Me by Lucy Coren + Nevaeh May

Struggles of No Real Significance by Aiden Robert Bruce

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Free Public Events 1PM – 4:30PM / Doors 6:30PM / Show 7:30PM / Rhubarb! After Dark 10:30PM

Free Public Events 1 – 4:30PM

1 PM // Coffee Chats

We bring coffee and cake, you come to connect. Coffee Chats is a space to talk about festival programming or any thoughts the festival has sparked in your brain. Audiences, artists, and neighbours will all meet at the cabaret for a lightly facilitated yapping.

2:15PM // Canada, eh? A public chat on cultural diplomacy and the Canadian touring context, hosted in partnership with SummerWorks 

Michael Caldwell from SummerWorks, Ross Manson from Volcano Theatre, and Ludmylla Reis from Rhubarb! will start a conversation on navigating cultural diplomacy as curators, artists, programmers, Canadians… the list will go on.

3:20PM // (SOMETHING?): A Public Conversation on International Producing, hosted in partnership with Generator

Generator’s Nikki Shaffeeullah moderates a casual conversation with Rhubarb! Festival director Ludmylla Reis and artist-producer Josh Marchesini about their experiences with and research on international producing. Attendees will be welcome to join the conversation.

Saturday Shows 7:30PM

TESTing Ground: Toronto and the world at Rhubarb! 47 by Erum Khan + isi bhakhomen

¿Y si me ven? / If they see me? by Macarena Coronado

an-ti-gon-nee by Ludmylla Reis

And You? a performance on criticism related to An-ti-gon-nee led by Ludmylla Reis

Rhubarb! After Dark at Tallulah's Cabaret

Rhubarb! After Dark is creative late-night programming that happens at Buddies after the weekend Rhubarb! Performances. On Friday stick around for Men Explain Things to Us… and We Like It! from We Quit Theatre, and on Saturday enjoy Wrath Month: Louder Than Pride from GRRRL Spells.