Theatre
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PREVIEWi ‘i )N ll Ml ’i )liAlh’ I MN :I LES BALLETS C DE LA 8: ASHES Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 8 & Sat 9 May
The so called mid-life crisis comes in many forms, but Koen Augustijnen has found a more creative outlet than most. The choreographer knows he’s still got plenty of good years ahead of him, but can’t help noticing the passing of time. ‘It probably has something to do with my age,’ he says. ‘l'm 41 now and I've been dancing for 20 years. And, although in contemporary dance and dance theatre you can be on stage until you‘re 70 or 80, I’m used to dancing in a more dynamic way and I can see that will change at some point.’ Rather than worry about it, however, Augustijnen ploughed his feelings into the latest work by Belgian dance company, Les Ballets C de la 8. Inspired by the desire to hold on and need to let go, Ashes is a major new production for eight dancers, five musicians and two singers. ‘I could see my parents getting older and friends‘ children growing up,’ he says, ‘and I wanted to say something about the fact that most things don’t
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last forever, about saying goodbye and how you continue afterwards.’
In a stroke of poignant irony, Augustijnen’s father died several months after the show was devised. ‘I think sometimes you have an awareness of things which you don’t understand rationally,’ says Augustijnen, ‘and maybe I could feel that something was going to happen.’ The link between ashes and death is obvious, but Augustijnen's choice of title goes deeper than that.
‘I saw a picture of a village completely covered in ashes after a volcano eruption,’ he says. ‘It was a big monochrome landscape but the people were very colourful and l was interested in that contrast. Ashes are also a symbol, because fire is destructive but it makes the ground fertile and something new grows in its place.’
Set to a soundtrack of Baroque music, Ashes may come from a personal place, but Augustijnen hopes it will touch something inside us all. ‘That’s the goal. And although the piece is dark at the start, little by little something new comes and there is hope.’ (Kelly Apter)
PREVIEW DOUBLE BILL
more.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
PREVIEW NEH \VORk
HEAR ME
Tron Theatre. Glasgow. Wed 6—Sat 9 May
With HE /D and “‘8 tot. ‘VHH’L‘; [Iv Gappad established a reputatioi‘ to: deyised physical theatre which addresses issues affecting the I’olmi diaspora in Scotland lts latest piece takes the company in a completely new direction
Performer Agniesxka Bresler takes up the story 'Our past productions were (to-devised and written by the company,‘ she says 'Here we're using a dramatic text which is concerned wrth more universal issues, but we only use about a third of the original play.‘ the play. an absurdist drama by the Polish writer Iadeus.’ Rozewcx, was originally called Witnesses and concentrates on the lack of comniunication III the modern world. but more importantly the way III which appearances of stability become Significant to us and the same old conversations create a fog that masks something darker.
Some interpretations of Roxewrcz's play. first produced in the 80s. see it as a metaphor for Cold War politics, but Bresler feels the piece still has resonance. 'It's lust a man and a woman who might or might not be a married couple, but their personal issues reflect the state of modern society. We address the same meanings here, but With more physicality it has been staged many times as a traditional play. but we want to express the same meanings Visually and physically.’ (Steve (lramen
TRON STRIPPED: BLISS + MUD Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 29 Apr-Sat 9 May
Just a year into his tenure as artistic director. Andy Arnold is already transforming the Tron into one of Scotland's most innovative producrng theatres. His latest outing, Tron Stripped. offers up a double bill of North American plays: 8/63. by QuebecOis writer OliVier Chomiere (translated into English by Caryl Churchill), and Mud. by Cuban-Arrierican playwright Maria Irene Fornes. While there are stark stylistic differences between the two. Arnold believes the two plays complement each other ideally.
‘B/i‘ss is almost a fantaSy piece about fame and the absolute obsession people have wrth celebrities' he says. 'It becomes Quite a grotesque nightmarish piece but it's very funny and fast-movrng. Mud, on the other hand. is rooted in white trash America. in a room in the middle of nowhere, and becomes almost like a Greek tragedy.’
According to Arnold. Tron Stripped is part of a company-Wide ethos to produce original content that is ‘stripped back' — 8053 and Mud both use the same cast — and it COUId become a yearly fixture. Despite his own admission that this is credit-crunch-style theatre, Arnold describes the double bill as ‘the most off-the-wall piece we've done yet'. And it seems his ability to take such risks is in no small part due to his audience.
‘The Tron has a great audience base.’ he says. “and I think they're wrlling to try new things — they've given me the confidence to push the envelope a bit