Julia Davis in She Holds Up the Stars | Photo by Jason George
Having seen only two other productions, I have solid faith in Red Sky Performance to ground me to the earth with experiences that also send my imagination soaring—fanciful, poetic spectacle rooted in Indigenous tradition and universal emotions. Partnering with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, creator Sandra Laronde presents a dance-concert-theatre hybrid aimed at youth aged eight to ten, but is a truly compelling experience for anyone with an open heart. She Holds Up the Stars is the sort of story Laronde wishes she’d had as an Indigenous youth growing up in this country.
The story revolves around Misko (Julia Davis), a twelve-year-old girl who has come to “the Rez” to learn about her mother, who died when she was very young. She reconnects with her grandmother, Kokum (Marsha Knight), joins a cluster of fellow Indigenous adolescents (boisterously portrayed by Hilary Wheeler, Kehew Buffalo, Sequoia Cooper and Grayson Bird), and gradually befriends a white boy her age, Thomas (James Gerus), whose father is trying to break-in a wild horse. Along the way, she discovers a through-line to her ancestors and finds home.
This friendship to Thomas is challenging and well-earned. They’re early interactions are combative, as she defends herself against his taunting, but we quickly realize that his mocking, guarded behaviour comes from his racist, abusive father’s oppressive influence.
Gerus and Davis offer a rambunctious and poignant portrait of an evolving, youthful relationship. Knight’s portrait of a compassionate, wise elder is comforting. Geoffrey Pounsett, as Mr. Turner, a kind and attentive local shop-owner, is an endearing supporting player. As Thomas’s father, Mr. Desjardins, Mike Shara is genuinely upsetting. Even as an adult, I found him quite distressing as he whips his captive horse, bullies his son, and demeans Misko. The psychological threat is explicit, but in an offhand remark he makes, there is a slight, unnerving hint of his potential for a more vile outrage against her. It’s subtle, so as not to traumatize a young audience, but also palpable enough for everyone to sense the danger, with adults more fully grasping the awful implication.
Rather than allowing this antagonistic character to be too easily dismissed as an absolute monster, Laronde slips a comment into his final moment that gives us the briefest glimpse at his own broken humanity. It’s a cliché, of course, but she affords him some empathy with the undeniable truth that hurt people hurt people.
There is a small array of inventive, whimsical puppets (a dog, some birds, a floating feather) designed by Nick Barnes; the astonishing centrepiece of this theatrical menagerie is the horse that Misko befriends and saves from Mr. Desjardin’s abuse. Under the nuanced and evocative movement direction of Scarlet Wilderink; head, heart and hind puppeteers (Danya Tietzen, Troy Feldman and Brad Cook) bring the wooden, stylized components of this creature to vivid life. The observant details really sell the truth of the animal and it’s deeply magical.
Present throughout, as a defining aspect of this production, is Eliot Britton’s stirring score, which is grand and cinematic. Performed live on stage by the TSO, it is masterfully blended into the storytelling and elevates our experience of it. She Holds Up the Stars has suitable weight and complexity for a young audience, examining harsh realities with age-appropriate nuance and teeming with modest yet fanciful theatrics.
She Holds Up the Stars
April 13 to 19, 2026
Roy Thomson Hall
(60 Simcoe Street)
55 minutes
Julia Davis in She Holds Up the Stars | Photo by Jason George