Author Archives: Kitty Newbury

Fellswoop Theatre: Belleville Rendez-vous

Fellswoop Theatre: Belleville Rendez-vous

Fellswoop Theatre: Belleville Rendez-vous

In Belleville Rendez-vous, Fellswoop Theatre, recent graduates from Warwick University, bring Sylvain Chomet’s Academy Award winning animated film to the stage (with the Chomet’s own seal of approval).

The stage show starts by placing us in a cabaret watching the Les Triplettes de Belleville jazz trio (double bass, electric guitar, and accordion) – a scruffy-looking bunch of fellows, faces painted white, and dressed in pastel linen clothing – creating a deliciously dark and unmistakably French ‘film noir’ setting. You feel like you should be sitting there with a large glass of wine and a cigarette! Then, the mood changes, and brooms, bicycle wheels, cutlery, physical action and human voice are all brought into play as the story begins…

The show’s plot is essentially the same as the film’s: when the orphaned cycling fanatic Champion (who has been brought up by his grandmother) disappears during the Tour de France race, his grandmother and their overweight dog journey to Belleville to find him. Joining forces with the aforementioned ageing jazz trio, they hatch a plan to rescue Champion from the clutches of mysterious crooks who may well be members of the French Mafia… The plot thickens!

Belleville Rendez-vous is a devised piece which uses almost word-free physical performance and puppetry to extremely good effect. The staging consists of simply constructed walls creating two distinct spaces: on one side you are shown the grandmother’s house including a crackly old radio and mouldy old curtains above the sink, but then, at one point, these walls revolve to reveal the actors creating the scene behind – for example, by flapping the curtains and whistling to create an effect of wind outside.

The aesthetic of the original film is preserved in the look of the human and puppet characters (transformed effectively here from 2D to 3D) – for example, in the long noses, tiny beady eyes, and rectangular shapes of two bodyguard characters.

The puppetry is excellent. Objects from everyday life are used to create the puppets, with the head of one made from a builder’s hard hat, and the body of another a large dark brown rusty-looking suitcase. The puppeteers are always visible, and often integrated with the puppet in an effective way, as, for example, with the Dog Lady, where the puppeteer’s feet were used as the hind legs of the dog, her vocalising of the barks and grunts that emerged from the solid head of this creature adding instant comic effect throughout the show. Also very well realised were the ‘Triplets’ characters, who were dressed in long shabby fur coats with 1920s style cloche hats. They had screwed-up faces and bodies, and communicated mainly through squeals, grunts, cackles and gasps.

This was a totally engaging performance, helped by the fact that there’s little dialogue, the show relying heavily on the audience reading the visual and physical ‘text’ performed onstage – which they readily and easily did due to the brilliant characterisation, pleasing stylisation, and constant humour of the performance. As a big fan of the film I thought the translation to stage was as good as I could have hoped – a unique and imaginative production using charming vocal soundscapes, clever puppetry and witty choreography. France, with all its elegance, is brought to your lap!

www.fellswooptheatre.wordpress.com

non zero one: The Time Out

non zero one: The Time Out

non zero one: The Time Out

Within a small, almost claustrophobic, set-cum-installation of a sports locker-room, twelve members of the audience are seated in the round on three small benches. We are told that we are facing a big challenge….

We are introduced to our swimming coach and told why we are here: for a water-polo game, which in just minutes we will be competing in! The coach, played by the brilliantly funny Iván González, is loud and slightly unnerving. At this point the audience is not, and I mean not, relaxed.

So, you are told to put on your swimming caps (which include built-in headphones, allowing you to receive instructions from an unseen female performer – either individually or as a group) and to listen. It was almost like having an audible conscience.

The Time Out investigates group dynamics, and what happens in the moments before a big event takes place. Throughout the show, you are at times made to feel at ease and feel comfortable with your surroundings, and then just as you are rewarded with that feeling, it is taken away and you are put in situations that most people would probably try to avoid. For example, as part of the ‘team-building’ process, you are asked to engage in physical trust exercises with the total stranger sat next to you, including holding hands and slowly straightening your arms out so you are relying on each other to hold the other person’s weight.

There was a definite feeling of being back at school and having that teacher-pupil divide. This feeling of being a pupil ordered about was emphasised by the film projection that spilled out across the row of grey lockers. It was like one of those bossy ‘get fit quick’ DVDs where you have to follow the physical instructions. Blacked-out goggles were also used at one point in the piece, which immediately created a very different dynamic – a difficult situation to be in, encouraging a sense of isolation and vulnerability for those five minutes that you sat with the goggles on. When you took them off, you felt a great sense of release: the participants experienced something with these eleven other people that was completely unique.

I believe non zero one’s aim with this highly interactive piece was to plunge you (excuse the pun) into the deep end, both emotionally and sensually. It was a very intimate show, and they proved to the audience members (most of them complete strangers) that all humans have similar fears and hopes and inhibitions, and that we’re not all that different from one another.

Larger-than-life performances and a well thought-out structure meant that, as long as you’re a fan of audience interaction, the show is well worth your time, so if you have the opportunity, plunge in.

www.nonzeroone.com

Teatro del Parpadeo: An Imaginary History of Tango

Teatro del Parpadeo: An Imaginary History of Tango

Teatro del Parpadeo: An Imaginary History of Tango

In An Imaginary History of Tango – billed as ‘more than just a show, an invitation’ – solo performer Anna Cetti delves into personal experiences of world travel and romance, and explores her relationship to dance in general and tango in particular. This journey unfolds using a range of dance forms featuring, of course, the tango, but also mime and ‘expressive dance’ and with some interesting disco dancing too – including an unexpected interpretation of ‘I’m The Scat Man!’ in which the performer adopts a ‘dad disco dancing’ style (or maybe it’s demonstrating the way your grandpa might try to dance to drum and bass).

The staging is simple, with just a single chair placed centrestage and props scattered underneath – the performer fills the small, bare space well. Short films are projected onto a screen on the back wall, one of which shows the classic ballroom line-up of men who inspect and then pick their favourite ladies.

The audience is spoken to like a close friend, which is both welcoming and relaxing, making you immediately feel sympathetic towards this woman who stands in front of you and shares her innermost thoughts and feelings.

The show also includes some lovely and original puppetry sequences that are performed within the frame of the chair, featuring tiny stickmen dancing – a sudden short burst that didn’t last long enough for the audience to take the beauty of it in.

The last dance, performed in a gold and red mask, is a simple tango – a very moving ending that could bring a tear to the most cynical eye.

The Imaginary History of Tango was a heart-warming and emotionally charged performance. Yet although Anna Cetti came across as a confident performer, the audience participation elements felt slightly uneasy. She attempted throughout to engage us in debate, and we were also brought up on stage at the end of the show and paired up with another member of the audience to dance. It was uncomfortable because of the unfortunately small number of people in the audience, which made it difficult for her to explore any of the possibilities this scenario could have offered.

This is a show for anyone with a love of dance and for anyone who believes in its power to tell us as much about a performer’s thoughts and feelings as dialogue can – a humorous look at love in all its splendid forms.

www.teatrodelparpadeo.yolasite.com