Upper Church at Summerhall, Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh EH9 1PL
The Greek myth of Medea provides inspiration for the new work by
the company Découpage Collective, which will be performed at Summerhall during
the Edinburgh Fringe
The international company Découpage Collective will
perform its new ambitious, visceral and
intimate show “Screaming Body” at Summerhall, from the 4th to the 14th of August.
Screaming Body is the second play written by promising
new playwright Léa Richard. Following the success of 2016’s tour of the
original play “Lost Game”, Découpage
Collective continues to explore new writing, relationships and live music with
this new piece.
What was the inspiration for this performance?
Screaming Body was initially inspired by the
Greek myth of
Medea. We wanted to translate Euripides’s story not only by adapting the words
to a contemporary audience but also by changing the situation in which the
characters find themselves and in the way we were giving shape to the new text.
We were interested in questioning how a character associated with villainy can
be brought into a more sympathetic light.
Recently, we were also really inspired by the way in which “Things I know to be true” by Andrew Bovell manages to weave poetics together with real life situations, dialogues and characters. This type of work inspires the way I utilize metaphors in my work, not only within the language but as a main concept to drive the text itself. For example, deconstructing a singular character into multiple beings who together try to articulate the complexity of the human condition.
Recently, we were also really inspired by the way in which “Things I know to be true” by Andrew Bovell manages to weave poetics together with real life situations, dialogues and characters. This type of work inspires the way I utilize metaphors in my work, not only within the language but as a main concept to drive the text itself. For example, deconstructing a singular character into multiple beings who together try to articulate the complexity of the human condition.
Finally, we decided to work with music from the first rehearsal and have
this element become fully integrated as part of the story – almost in a
cinematographic use of it. This constantly feeds and inspires the creation of
the performance.
Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of
ideas?
We hope it is, or that at least it suggests ideas and themes for the
public to discuss in the aftermath of the performance. We aren’t looking to
politicise ourselves or the story of Medea. We don’t want to force opinions on
others. Rather, we are looking to challenge pre-existing ideas. Maybe the
theatre isn’t always the space for a discussion, but it certainly remains the
gateway for ideas to be shared and expressed, a prompt for further discussion
to occur.
How did you become interested in making performance?
Everyone in the company has had different reasons to want to make theatre,
to be on stage and to create but we all met at Rose Bruford College on the
European Theatre Arts course. We learnt to make theatre together and we found
different ways to tell stories that we want to tell. We became interested in
moving away from the classical way of staging a play: one actor for one
character representing the actions in a chronological order. We wanted to
explore the ways of translating a story from the intimate experience of one of
the protagonist to a more multifaceted approach.
Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?
At the heart of making this show was the principle of collaboration
whilst maintaining a strong ownership of our individual skills. There’s an
interdisciplinary approach found in the written text and the composed score
which shares a dialogue throughout. We didn’t want anything to be completely
fixed and that’s why Marie-Laure (the director) encouraged the performers to
always react to one another and allow each performance to continually grow and
evolve.
Does the show fit with your usual productions?
Yes. Last year, I (Léa Richard) wrote Lost Game, the story of a prisoner
embodied by four different actors in order to translate all the facets of his
personality. This is what Découpage Collective aims to do as a company:
deconstruct a character in order to give a more complete and complex picture of
their being.
However, Screaming Body takes this a step further, exploring this more deeply with the use of the music, which offers yet another insight into the character’s frame of mind.
However, Screaming Body takes this a step further, exploring this more deeply with the use of the music, which offers yet another insight into the character’s frame of mind.
What do you hope that the audience will experience?
We hope they will be moved, engaged, invested in
this story. We want them to be impassioned. Even if they disagree with
Georgia (the main and only character on stage), if they are enraged, it
would show we had succeeded to translating Euripides’ story in more ways than
just literally adapting the words.
We want to challenge the audience’s
assumptions that the character of Medea, viewed through the lens of Georgia,
must remain an unsympathetic villain.
The
performance deals with Past Georgia and Present Georgia meeting to expose
Georgia’s story to the audience through visual
storytelling and the contemporary writing of Léa Richard.
On stage also is the composer and musician Holly Khan,
musically capturing the third facet of Georgia. She uses a loop pedal, a Viola
and a Kalimba in order to musically translate on stage Georgia’s subconscious
while giving a strong atmosphere to the play.
Through
the eyes and heart of one of theatre’s most infamous wronged women, we explore the emotional, marital and social betrayals
of a young woman placed under the mythological microscope.
Screaming Body was first performed at Theatre Utopia
and at The Space Theatre.
About the company
Découpage Collective was established in 2015 with their first production
Lost Game, also written by company
founder Léa Richard. Lost Game had a
successful tour in Summer 2016, performing in the Dreams Before Dawn Festival in Paris, in the fantastic venue of Summerhall at the Edinburgh Fringe and
in the Garage International space at the
Avignon Festival. All performative, directorial and composing members of
the company were trained at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance
through European Theatre Arts, a course that centres itself on the importance
of the ensemble. European Theatre Arts trains their performers through the
methodologies of a vast variety of European Practitioners who specialise in
physical and devised theatre.
Lost Game tells the story of a prisoner, embodied by four actors, who
longs for the woman he loves to come to him and their abusive relationship is
unfolded. Screaming Body aspires to
develop the use of visual thread work of
stories to the subconscious of a character that they began with Lost Game in order to materialize a
stronger illustration of the mind of Georgia to the audience.
Découpage Collective also has a research Strand, “Découpage Lab”, led by Oscar Zito, providing
workshops in Europe and America. To learn more about this, visit: http://www.decoupagecollective.com/deacutecoupage-lab.html
”The
faceted aspect of a doubtful personality, personified by an harmonious duo”
Venue and Tickets:
All tickets
can be booked online: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/screaming-body-decoupage-collective
Summerhall
is located at Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh EH9 1PL
WALKING : Just a
short walk from The Royal Mile, Waverley Train Station and the Edinburgh Bus
Station.
BUS : Lothian
Bus Routes 3, 5, 7, 8, 29, 31, 47, 49 (to/from South Clerk Street) and 42, 67
(to/from our front entrance).
www.decoupagecollective.com
Join
us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DecoupageCollective/
Or
Twitter: https://twitter.com/decoupageco
No comments :
Post a Comment