Wayne McGregor's MADDADDAM returns to Toronto June 13 – 21 after its acclaimed 2022 premiere. 

To experience MADDADDAM is to be immersed in the imagination and unflinching moral acuity of Canada’s Margaret Atwood on subjects of rampant technological experimentation, colonialism and greed. Wayne McGregor’s 2022 co-production with The Royal Ballet brings Atwood’s post-apocalyptic MaddAddam trilogy to life, exploring themes of extinction and invention, hubris and humanity, spliced together with Atwood’s signature activism and connection to Canada. Scored by one of the greatest living composers, Max Richter, MADDADDAM is an unforgettable production for our time.

In an imagined future not far from our own, a bio-engineered apocalypse has changed the Earth as we know it. An incongruous group of survivors must navigate a dangerous present – and make sense of the past. Inspired by Atwood’s speculative fiction, in which, famously, nothing is invented that is not already occurring somewhere in our world, MADDADDAM holds up a mirror to the terrifying consequences of unchecked scientific experimentation, corporate corruption and exploitation, channelling the sentiment and prescience of Atwood’s writing.

MADDADDAM is not a literal translation of Atwood’s trilogy. Instead, McGregor has called it a “rendering” that evokes the feeling or sensory experience of the novels.

While the ballet’s three acts do not correspond directly with the novels (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam), each presents a distinct world.

Atwood’s trilogy presents the past and present of a post-apocalyptic world, the errant result of a scientist, Crake, trying to save the world from humanity.

The survivors include Jimmy, Toby, Ren and Oryx, as well as the gentle Crakers – who were created to replace humans – and God’s Gardeners, who care for the environment.

For MADDADDAM, McGregor reassembled the creative team behind his award-winning Woolf Works, bringing together some of the world’s most brilliant artistic minds.

For tickets visit national.ballet.ca.

Photo: Melissa Hamilton in MADDADDAM. © 2024 Tristram Kenton.