Pi Theatre launches this year’s Pi Provocateurs Performance Series with Rat Academy by Edmonton, Alberta’s Batrabbit Collective.

Do you like rats? Good. Come along with the two last Albertan rats as they teach you the ways of the rodent. Fingers, a curmudgeonly street rat with a heart of gold is completely alone. Or so he thinks until he discovers Shrimp, an escaped happy-go-lucky lab rat. Eager to preserve his legacy, Fingers creates the Rat Academy to train Shrimp in the ways of the cold, hard street rat.

On the syllabus: Cheese-ology, the Art of Scaring Magpies; Stealing 101; and Advanced Tails. But their dark alleys are far from predictable, and as the unlikely duo tries to exist in a world that hates them, they learn that survival is nothing without love.

Inspired by Alberta’s famous 1950s anti-rat propaganda and mentored by Mump and Smoot, this physical comedy duo will have you clutching your tail.

“I am tickled to offer Vancouver the chance to revisit the Rats,” says Pi Theatre’s Artistic & Producing Director, Richard Wolfe. “Rat Academy has been touring the country to sold-out houses and enthusiastic audiences. We thought we’d add a little extra fun to an already joyful show by putting audiences into a secret, non-traditional space in East Van. Rat Academy is a great night of entertainment and we’re looking forward to welcoming them back to Vancouver!”