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PREVIEW DANCE THEATRE T[R]APPED
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 20 Jun
With CCTV monitoring our city centres and vast databases intimately acquainted with our shopping habits. you'd be forgiven for thinking Big Brother was more than just a TV programme. Inspired by this over- zealous information gathering and the more sinister surveillance techniques of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). choreographer Maresa von Stockert has asked the question, how far will it go?
'I was interested in the history of the GDR and began looking at it more closely,‘ says German-born von Stockert. ‘And what struck me is that it's actually not that far away from how we live in the UK now. There's a lot of surveillance here. but we don‘t even queshonit'
Performed by von Stockerts Essex- based company. Tilted Productions. T/rjAPPED follows five characters living in an imaginary state which she describes as ‘timeless — it could be in the future. but it's also inspired by the past.‘ Evoking a regime where officials eavesdrop on our private thoughts. von Stockert uses tragi-comet‘ly to explore ideas of interrogation and bureaucraCy. And. as always. Tilted's use of set (in this instance two large cages) drives the piece along.
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they're not just decoration — they have Romantic love, in all its weird and wonderful conversations and translated them into my own visual to actually be used in an integrated permutations, has formed the basis for so much vocabulary, worked them into a storyboard - it’s at that way and help convey what I'm trying theatre, that it is virtually impossible to avoid cliche point that I shaped the work.’ to say.‘ (Kelly Apterj when taking on this hoariest of subjects. Yet, Palazzo Pitrolo, who hails from Palermo in Italy, and is on a Theatre have come up with an innovative way of mission to bring the European tradition of visual presenting l’amour on stage. The young, Glasgow- theatre to the Glasgow scene, is pleased to be part of based company’s latest work, Vision/Aria, was inspired what she sees as a growing movement towards by the French literary theorist and philosopher Roland creating work within strict budget limitations, of which Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse, a list of fragments or the recent Tron Stripped season is just one example. ‘figures’ written from the point of view of a lover, some In fact, she delights in creating theatre on a of which are drawn from literature. shoestring. As artistic director Flora Pitrolo points out, however, ‘We don’t have a set - we don’t need a set,’ she says. Barthes’ work was merely the initial catalyst for a piece ‘Light is very important to our work, but light is free that was assembled mainly from the company’s own remember. It’s not a night at the opera, it’s not about reflections on the theme. ‘I presented the performers seeing and being seen, it’s about having something to with the text, which formed the starting point for the say. And I like the idea of performing to a small piece,’ she says. ‘We had conversations about what audience of about 50 people - it’s much more intimate.’
these references meant to us, and we came up with our (Allan Radcliffe)
PREVIEW NEW WORK OREET ASHERY: RAGING BALLS 8. GOLANI VARANASI The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 12 Jun
Even the least articulate among us can suddenly become word-perfect when overtaken by a spasm of rage. often to compelling effect. The performance artist Oreet Ashery is keenly aware of this, and. inspired by the artist DaVid Wojnarowicz's wild rages against the US authorities“ refusal to act upon the Aids crisis in the 1980s. has decided to reinvigorate the old-style political rant. Here. though, the audience are encouraged. if they dare. to interact Wllil the feisty Orator. 'I'm kind of interested in that political rage. not that more general, “oh this doesn't work" and "I don't like that" stuff.‘ Ashery explains. 'The first speech is about stop and search. One day I saw four policemen arresting this young guy. with really excessive force. I tied this in with the idea we're always hearing. about the need to fight terrorism, but is this really a general means of oppressing and controlling peOpIe’?'
She goes on to discuss a recent Cultural phenomenon emanating from the Middle East. 'lt's this idea of these young Israeli men. who after the army. all go to India. The problem with this is that some of the soldiers who have served in the occupied territories are treating Indians the way they treated Palestinians. There's also another side to it, where we see these yOung Israelis. and just as they have prejudices against the Indians. we have prejudices against them.‘ Go along. but don't complain if you get a bit of a hair dryer from Ashery. iSteve Cran‘ierl
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