Mossoux-Bonté’s triptych of ensemble movement theatre pieces was, for me, the unexpected delight of LIMF 2008.
Part one saw a row of six figures against a wall. The movement is Butoh-inspired: slow, often minimal but always charged with intent; movements of arms, heads, legs that stayed in touch with the supporting wall. Cocteau’s statues in an enchanted garden; marble carvings on a temple; the trapped bodies of Pompeii – it is easy to construct narratives around the images. Then suddenly, all six slowly sink down to end sitting on the ground, and the stories change. Shaved heads, staring eyes in slumped bodies – refugees, concentration camp inmates, bomb victims huddled underground… A lesson in the power of movement theatre.
Part two is in a rather different mood, with nods in the direction of Pina Bausch’s tanztheater: a continuous journeying across the stage that is an ironic play on dressing and undressing, exposure and privacy, public and private space.
Part three sees a return to the dimmed lights and dreamy mood of the first piece. A stunning opening shot gives us an ensemble of lit faces moving like seas creatures, tilting and swaying. As we grow accustomed to the low light, we notice that the group are all in party clothes – suits and satin frocks – and are all kneeling. It’s somehow a really eerie and unsettling image.
All three pieces remind us that telling stories through pictures creates rich and multi-dimensional narratives – oh, the power of mime!