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Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
Caliban – Act III, 2
Created as part of GUIMARÃES 2012
(European Capital of Culture)
A project “The Dream... to tour India
in a Tent”
“What is the deeper meaning of your performance ?”
Question asked by a member of the public in Kerala during
Footsbarn's first Indian Tour in 1994
SHAKESPEARE, the universal cosmic poet has, since the company's
early days been the greatest source of material with which it has
created shows accessible to a public of all ages, culture and class.
INDIA : the home and root of epic poems and Theatre forms dating
back over 2.000 years.
What better partner to Shakespeare ?
Footsbarn's connexion with India dates back to 1994. Now eighteen years
later, the Bard brings us together again.
Our Desire was to speak of Kerala, the sea, fisherman, magic, spirits,
Footsbarn's travels and its almost carnal relationship to Theatre.
It had to be the Tempest.
Set on a timeless imaginary Island, this disturbing play evokes power
and decline forgiveness and regret, ignorance and wisdom, dreams and
ambitions, submission and rebellion, bringing along in its wake a
bestiary of spirits, shapes and monsters, who must share a world where
music rules everything.
Poetry beyond language...
The richness of this play is a gift, a story we can tell, dance and sing
to people of two continents as similar and diverse as India and Europe.
Residency in Guimarães
European Capital of Culture – March, April, May 2012
In the spring, Footsbarn Theatre will travel from their home in the
Auvergne, rural France, to the community of Guimarães, Portugal, to
install its village of tents and caravans.
For three months, this international Theatre company will live and work
to create its new production, Indian Tempest, and share this time with
people of Guimarães as part of the programation of the European capital
of Culture 2012.
Footsbarn Theatre's actors, musicians, technicians, set, costume, mask
and prop makers and its administration – will be joined by their Indian
Theatre family from Kerala. Everyone with his own individual story and
journey will become part of the local community, giving workshops to
children and adults alike, taking Theatre onto the streets, working with
local artisans and hosting weekly "social events” in their Tent Village.
Music, Theatre, exchange with local artists, films and exhibitions,
archives of the company's Nomadic Days in the early eighties – spent
living, creating and touring in Portugal and Spain – will be shared in
the conviviality of Footsbarn's Tent Village.
The World Premiere of Indian Tempest and a series of shows in
Guimarães, followed by a local tour of smaller communities performed in
open air, will conclude the residence.
Thank you Guimarães !
Some thoughts...
Set design
A desert island, or near as.
Caliban's island, colonised by Prospero.
How to translate this nameless island into a dynamic theatrical space
for auditoriums, tents, and village squares ?
From the blank canvas of this island anything can emerge. It reveals
that which is at the core of each character, from the darkest murder
plots to dreams of a perfect utopia.
So, a neutral space to start with, with dynamic entrances and a higher
place.
Everything will emerge from The Chorus, a Chorus of “Shapes”, part
human, part mineral. At times, a spirit, a bush, a rock...
A fluid amorphous Chorus that will embody the mental projections of one
and all, that can give birth to spirits and demons, and by turns terrify
and delight.
Not forgetting the ocean, always present.
Direction
The director of Footsbarn is the play itself.
The work of the actor is to breathe life into the story and to offer it
to that fundamental ingredient of Theatre which is... the Public.
The company creates its shows through improvisations based on the
characters and situations of the play. This process requires a constant
state of openness and readiness, allowing the artists to discover the
strength and movement of the piece.
Guided by the “motor” of the text, the artist must enter the world of
the play until he is completely possessed.
Footsbarn is a collective. A company. No room for stars. Our approach :
tell the story using all the elements and power of Theatre. The public
must be free to interpret. The key is to enter the world of the chosen
text.
The Tempest is a piece of magic and illusion, desire and romantic love,
dreams and ambition, treachery and torment, and - of course - comedy is
everywhere. The frenetic pace offers constant changes of atmosphere and
momentum that carries the story to its conclusion: revenge and
reconciliation without violence.
Our task will be to explore the different worlds... and open the door
of the imagination.
Theatre and Language
Only thirty percent of communication passes through the spoken word...
Between different cultures, we do not speak the same language, but we
do have the same passions and emotions.
In India, there are more than thirty languages.
Subtitles kill the actor and distract the public, splitting the focus...
What a beautiful thought that having seen a play enacted on the stage
with the language of Theatre, a child has the desire to read the text.
The reading and understanding of the poetry is stimulated by the power
of Theatre.
Theatre stimulates. Irrigates. Incites. Provokes.
The five phases of the production
> January 2012
First rehearsals hosted by Abhinaya Theatre Village in Trivandrum,
Kerala, India.
> March to May 2012
Residency in Guimarães, Portugal. Late May : first performances.
> June to October 2012
European Tour : Portugal, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
> November 2012 to February 2013
Indian Tour, Mumbai, Kerala, Hyderabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur... and
others.
> April to June 2013
European Tour including a series of performances at the Globe Theatre,
London, opening the season April-May 2013 |
