PuSh International Performing Arts Festival swings into gear

The multimedia, interdisciplinary extravaganza known as the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is swinging into full gear this week, and here are two shows from far away that we won’t be missing. From Tokyo, look out for Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech, a strange, stylized, and sometimes even sad take on Japan’s famous office culture. The loose story is about a bunch of office temps planning a goodbye party for someone who’s been laid off, but it plays out in choreography, music by the likes of John Coltrane and Stereolab, and deadpan dialogue, next Thursday to Saturday (January 26 to 28) at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts’ Studio T. Meanwhile, Looking for a Missing Employee is described as a “performance puzzle” by Lebanon’s Rabih Mroué. Through projected sketch art and documents, as well as storytelling, it follows the tale of a man who disappears from his office in Beirut (also January 26 to 28, at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre).