Intermission Magazine: How can theatre engage with a crisis as enormous as climate change? One answer: go miniature.
That’s the approach Belgian theatre companies Chaliwaté and Focus take in their co-creation Dimanche, a wordless physical theatre piece that uses object theatre and puppetry — as well as mime, analogue special effects, and video work — to reflect on climate catastrophe. TO Live will present Dimanche at Meridian Arts Centre on February 21 and 22.
2 comments:
I think it’s really amazing how these two companies approached this topic. It’s not an easy one to talk about, and it’s really cool that they can bring up the topic without actually talking. Their use of scale is really powerful. I’ve never seen the subjects/actors be bigger than the set they’re in. It’s really effective. I also like how it’s mainly about animals. When we think about climate change, a lot of the time, we forget about how it’s affecting animals as well. To share the space with both animals and human actors is important and a reminder that we share this Earth. One thing I admire is how they care about their own carbon footprint as a touring show. This really speaks to their values and I really appreciate that they’re taking their own initiative to make sure they aren’t producing unnecessary pollution. And I like that it’s not the common pollutants you think of when you think about how much productions waste.
I find this approach to be really innovative, in a world where theatre is and has historically actively taken on the helm of speaking truth to whomever will listen and to those who won’t. The naturalist and realist focus that many western theatres have overprioritized is really well utilized here in the puppetry, which is quite refreshing. Puppetry is such a cool art form to me, from the performance to the skeletal construction. There’s so much thought that goes into one piece of a show from so many different angles, and it’s a beautiful opportunity for collaboration, as the organizations involved in this article clearly saw. Despite the realist focus, there was an absence of spoken word throughout an abundance of nonverbal communication. I love when artists constrain themselves to avoid spoken language - I think it makes the messages all the more universalizable and impactful. This is true of other mediums such as film as well.
Post a Comment