Playground 2015
Esphador Ledet Ko Uluner!
Esphador Ledet Ko Uluner! is a short story in an invented, dadaist language. You can pick out dialogues, a plot and characters, but no specific content: the meaning of the text shifts according to the interpretation of the performers.
A clean line that starts from the shoulder
A series of fine line-drawings of Congolese men and women in draped robes formed the basis for a new performance by Jimmy Robert, who works with a female performer to create a dialogue of movement. The suggestion of fragility, motion and identity is central to this performance.
Solo
Maria Hassabi dances an intense pas de deux with an Oriental carpet. She folds it with immense care, climbs and crawls on it and lifts it up. The carpet becomes a weapon, a prayer-mat, a lover and an arena for dancing.
Los Angeles Models
Free Jail, Fire Exit House and Mouth Call are just some of Jean-Pascal Flavien’s utopian, imaginary architectural models. They are set out in shoeboxes in a domestic setting. You walk around them, accompanied by a performer, and discover what references they contain.
The Marsyas Hour
Benjamin Seror performs compelling narratives and emotional songs, in which he engages with both language and improvisation. In this performance, the mythological figure of Marsyas hovers between life and death after losing a music contest with the god Apollo. Now he must use his imagination to defeat a mysterious enemy, navigating between reality and fiction.
Damning Evidence Illicit Behaviour Seemingly Insurmountable Great Sadness Terminated in Any Manner
An opera singer performs an aria, subtitled with an LED display. The words are compiled from online comments on the techniques used by stars to enhance their performances. The drug cheat Lance Armstrong, for instance, or Beyoncé lip-syncing at the Obama inauguration. In this way, Cally Spooner simultaneously explores the phenomenon of media hysteria.
Drama Vox, a performance and sound installations
Hugues Decointet was so fascinated by a text on Samuel Beckett’s voice that he created an index of fragments and words that we use to describe voices. He translated this index into objects and a performance in which sculptures and text combine in varying rhythms to create a dramaturgy for the voice – a drama vox.
Carry on
What space do memories occupy, and how might they control our movements? Dancers move, stack and combine noise-making white cubes in the entrance lobby at M. Visitors are invited to approach, listen, join in, and think about their own movements in space.
More about Playground? Surf to the website and discover the latest updates on the arts festival.