awaken your love productions presents
Created & Performed by
Eli Matilda Ridley
Music and Sound Design Created by
Goddesscreak
Art Film Video Projections Created by
Eli Matilda Ridley
Lighting Designed by
Eli Matilda Ridley
Story Consultation and Dramaturgy by
Amelia Kriss
ABOUT THE SHOW
her whispers were always there follows a soul dispatched to Earth by the Limitless Light to help the world changeover from the Infinite Shadow to the Limitless Light. Upon traveling down to Earth in 1993, the soul is split by the Infinite Shadow. The hero must navigate profound disconnection, the introduction of the Trauma Spirit through childhood sexual abuse, the introduction of the Soul Consuming Succubi through porn addiction, and the destructive influence of the Infinite Shadow’s hold over the mind.Â
To heal, the soul must transmute the grief of their current existence along three interwoven past lives, including a pagan Scottish family, and a pregnant Shaker girl, to ultimately find union with their missing half.Â
Audiences can expect an experimental departure from traditional theatre, making this the perfect show for the Calgary Fringe Theatre Festival. The show combines elements of storytelling, layered with video art projections, to evoke the feeling of a bedtime story or fairy tale. Surrounding the audience is an auditory experience of its own with sound art pieces featuring poetic whispers and tantric breath layered over live loops of electric guitar and ambient keyboard synths. This show, combined with the ecstatic movement and character breathwork inspired by traditional Scottish and Shaker dance styles, is a show you will never forget.
Weaving together live music loops, poetic sound art pieces, video art projections, ecstatic movement and storytelling, this is an epic romantic spiritual fairy tale that is a holy unique, awe inspiring and moving theatrical experience.
WATCH THE TRAILERS
WORLD PREMIERE
NEXT PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
PERFORMANCE LOCATION
The Kinkonauts
BLOX Arts Centre
834 11th Ave SW Calgary AB
TIP THE ARTIST!
The artists SO appreciate you coming out to see their shows. If you’re wanting to give them a little something extra by way of appreciation, you can leave them a tip using this online payment site.
Thank-you for your support!
With deep gratitude,
Eli Ridley
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
You can save $3 on your ticket if you also purchase 2026 Pittsburgh Fringe Button.
There is free street parking on Penn Ave after 6pm Monday-Saturday. Sunday is free all day! Many of the residential streets around the area have 1 hour metered parking between 7am-7pm Monday through Saturday.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
About Eli Matilda Ridley (Performer / Creator):
Eli Matilda Ridley is a Winnipeg-based filmmaker, actor, drama therapist, and musician who identifies as gender-fluid, embracing and flowing within the spiritual balance of feminine and masculine energies.
Eli found their passion for storytelling through the birth of their “first child”—a critically acclaimed therapeutic solo performance called Water Choke. Earning its stripes at the Toronto and Atlantic Fringe Festivals, the show played to intimate crowds, moving audiences to cry, think, love, and connect with their hidden parts. This profound experience inspired her journey into drama therapy. Today, she holds space for traumatized individuals to share their most vulnerable narratives, helping them experience deeper self-love by transforming trauma into transcendent stories.
When not holding space for others, he shares his own stories through the storytelling podcast RISK!, film, music, and with loved ones. He has written and directed two therapeutic short films alongside creating experimental art films. As a musician, he composes immersive scores for Modo yoga classes and writes viscerally cathartic folk music.
Questions for You
Have you met your twin soul?
What is your soul purpose?
THE MUSIC
REVIEW THE SHOW!
Recent Reviews
An Intimate Journey Through Trauma, Shadow, and Becoming Whole
“Her Whispers Were Always There” is one of those rare shows that doesn’t just tell a story – it quietly reaches into yours and turns a light on.
Eli’s performance is vulnerable, precise, and utterly magnetic. The way they move between trauma, memory, and hope feels less like watching a play and more like being invited into a living cosmology. As someone who has walked through illness, abuse, and rebuilding a life from the ground up, I recognized so much of my own journey in their words that at times it felt like Eli was telling my story on stage, and still, it never stopped being unmistakably his.
What impressed me most is how grounded the piece is. Even while touching deeply spiritual and psychological themes, Eli never loses the human thread: a real person trying to make sense of harm, longing, love, and the possibility of becoming whole again. It’s brave work, but not in a flashy way – it’s the quiet, disciplined bravery of someone who has clearly done their own work and is now offering art as an honest mirror.
I left the theatre in tears, but not from despair. I left feeling seen, accompanied, and strangely more hopeful about my own path. “Her Whispers Were Always There” is a gift for anyone who has ever felt split, silenced, or haunted by their past, and for anyone who believes that telling the truth – gently, fiercely, and with craft – can be its own form of healing.
Thank you, Eli, for writing and embodying this piece. It mattered to me more than I can fully put into words.
SHARE THIS SHOW
BUILT BY
©2023-2026 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED