Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025
For Immediate Release
Key Information
- Nanaimo’s TheatreOne presents Hotel Vortruba as the first show in its 2025/26 Just For Kids Series.
- There will be one performance on Sunday, October 12th at 2:00 pm.
The performance will be held at the Malaspina Theatre at Vancouver Island University.
- Tickets are $15 and are available through the TheatreOne Box Office.
- online at www.theatreone.ca
- by phone – 250-754-7587 – noon to 5pm Monday to Friday
- in person at the TheatreOne office – 60 Wharf Street – noon to 5pm Monday to Friday.
- At the door – beginning one hour prior to the performance
- Seating is limited to availability
Check in to Hotel Vortruba for an afternoon of crazy fun for kids
Hotel Vortruba is a surreal wordless physical comedy where finding shelter is not so simple. It is an exquisite world of magic, circus and physical comedy. Described by a fan as “a Pixar short, written by Salvador Dali,” this delightful piece of theatre is packed full of surprises. Items from the hotel appear, reappear, change places, float, and have minds of their own. It is a hotel with other-worldly room service, broken lamps, creaky floorboards, and giant rats. The proprietor, a masked eccentric, whimsically tries to keep it together as the hotel roof begins to drip. Will they catch all the drops? Will the guest make it through the night? Will she notice the rats? Come check-in to Hotel Vortruba and find out.
Suitable for children from kindergarten to grade seven.
Hotel Vortruba is generously sponsored and supported by the Island Savings, Mid-Island Co-Op, the City of Nanaimo, Dairy Queen, the BC Live Performance Network, Pinnacle Pharmacy, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the Nanaimo News Bulletin. TheatreOne acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.
TheatreOne acknowledges and thanks the Snuneymuxw First Nation, on whose traditional territory we live, create, and perform.
Contact:
Michael Cade – Artistic and Managing Director
250-754-7587 michael@theatreone.ca
About TheatreOne
TheatreOne has been bringing professional theatre to Nanaimo and the mid-Island for 40 years. We engage diverse local audiences of all ages and persuasions, including the very young, and in doing so, support theatre professionals and local businesses. We work with playwrights from British Columbia and across Canada, to foster development of new Canadian works; we premier new productions; and through our support to touring artists we give Nanaimo audiences access to great theatre developed elsewhere.
What the Critics are saying about Hotel Vortruba
★★★★★
“An extraordinary blend of mime and magic”
Global News
“An extraordinary blend of mime and magic”
Global News
★★★★★
“It’s the perfect mix of magic, physical comedy and charm.”
Edmonton Journal
★★★★★
The two tap into a seemingly endless array of dexterous theatrical abilities (including clown, magic, mime, mask, puppetry, illusion, dance and various other circus arts) to mount a show that is a marvel to behold, a continuing treat and a boisterous display of exotic, theatrical talent.
GigCity.ca
About RAGMOP Theatre
RAGMOP Theatre is a collaboration between Canadian clown and movement artist Nayana Fielkov, and U.S.A. circus artist Matthew “Poki” McCorkle.
Using the mediums of clown, magic, mime, mask, puppetry, illusions, shadow projections, dance, live song, and circus arts, RAGMOP creates and performs original, compelling, thought provoking, surrealist physical comedy. Their premier show, Falling Awake, created at Artists in Residency programs at Tanzzentrale (Nürnberg, Germany) and Lookout Arts Quarry (Bellingham, WA, USA), toured across Canada in 2016 receiving several awards: Best of Fest (Edmonton Fringe), Best Ensemble (Toronto Fringe), and The Joanna Maratta Award (Vancouver Fringe). In 2018 they premiered their second show, Hotel Vortruba, to sold out houses and glowing reviews at the Edmonton Fringe Festival, the largest Theatre Festival in North America. In Spring 2019 they created their latest: A Can of Worms, which also received high acclaim. Their work has been presented at theatres and festivals throughout B.C., including Capitol Theatre in Nelson, ArtSpring on Salt Spring Island, Fringe Presents Vancouver, and The Living Things Festival, in Kelowna.
About Nayana Fielkov
Nayana Fielkov is a critically acclaimed performing artist dedicated to the work of play. She is based on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples – Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. Beginning with scripted plays and musicals over two decades ago, she evolved through the creation and wearing of masks, into the worlds of clown and devised theatre.
Nayana has performed at recognized festivals and venues across the nation with her genre-bending approach to theatre. She is co-creator of multi-award winning RAGMOP Theatre, Habitats, Underbelly, and The Myrtle Sisters. She brings together the mediums of clown, dance, mask, and physical comedy. Along with her touring duo and solo shows, she creates ensemble work, roving acts, hosting characters, and variety acts, and is an active and founding member of Vancouver’s cherished Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret. She teaches contact dance and clown internationally and has facilitated youth in theatre creation for many events including the International Children’s Festival. Nayana is also a maker of puppets, clothing, and costumes, and is a proud mother of a twelve-year-old boy.
“Nayana Fielkov is” . . . “immensely charming.” – Collin Thomas, reviewer for the Georgia Straight Vancouver.
“Nayana Fielkov show(s) off an impressive range of skills.” CBC
About Matthew “Poki” McCorkle
Hello,
My name is Matthew McCorkle but most people just call me Poki.
I use circus, mime, magic, clown, physical comedy, and dance to create performances that are:
poetic, heartfelt, hilarious, alive, transcendent, strange, mesmerizing, surreal, other worldly.
for audiences who are:
at dinner shows, in spiegeltents, circus tents, close up, far away, on television, on video.
I perform as a soloist, with duos, and in companies.
Here is a third person bio
With balance, mime, magic, sleight of hand, juggling, hairhang and more Matthew “Poki” McCorkle (they/them) creates mesmerizing & surreal spectacle.
Poki’s award winning solo acts have been presented at the world’s finest dinner variety shows (Palazzo in Vienna, Berlin, Nürnberg, and Hamburg). Poki has performed in Dubai with one of Canada’s leading contemporary circus companies (Cirque Éloize). Poki is a regular at Seattle’s Moisture Festival, the largest and longest running comedy and variety festival.
Poki directs, creates, and plays in devised ensemble work. Their work includes Button Wagon (Fringe Festivals, Circus schools, and Colleges), Palindrome with partner Justin Therrien (NYC Summer Stages & more), RAGMOP Theatre award winning surrealist physical comedy with partner Nayana Fielkov (Canadian & US Fringe Festivals), and Up, Up, Up Crane Truck Circus – touring outdoor circus ensemble on a crane truck.
Poki is a proud supporter of Clowns Without Borders, an organization which offers laughter to relieve the suffering of all persons, especially children, who live in areas of crisis including refugee camps, conflict zones and emergency situations. In 2013 Poki joined Clowns Without Borders and Plan International in The Philippines to perform for 30,000+ children directly affected by Super Typhoon Hiayan. In 2019 Poki joined Clowns Without Borders and Diyar Theatre to tour Palestine West bank performing for refugee children.