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Company number: 3724349
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Past programme
Showcases an eclectic range of fresh and interesting contemporary work, largely by emerging artists
The Fantasist
Alone in her room, Louise is desperate to fall asleep. A surprise visitor interrupts her and takes her on a strange journey - through excitement and creativity, horror and destruction - to the forbidden chamber of her own mind.
Theatre Témoin and Cie Traversière use an exciting blend of puppetry, object manipulation, physical theatre, and original music in this zany and sensitive exploration of bipolar disorder, shedding new light on a woman's internal struggle against the swirl of extreme moods.
Reviews
Review in London Festival Fringe
Trumpety Trump: Noah's Ark
All aboard! Escape the rain and join Captain Noah and his animals on the ark. Adventure awaits as they set sail. Will they reach land safely or will Vulture and his evil companions cry mutiny?
Join us for an imaginative and musical retelling of the Biblical story, never before seen on stage.
Don Carlos
Love, betrayal and revolution...
Often remarked upon as Schiller’s Hamlet, Lazarus Theatre Company visits one of the greatest of the classical European writers in this powerful, dramatic and rousing adaptation.
Betrayed by his own father, King Philip of Spain, Don Carlos is in love with Elizabeth, who through political advantage becomes his father’s wife and Queen. Their desperate love affair is played out against a Spain in the grasp of war, tangled in untruths, corruption and deceit. The revolution of the nation destroys the lovers and the very world they wish to create.
Through the use of text, movement and music, a large ensemble will create a world of passion, conflict and rebellion. Their love will change them, their lives and their kingdom forever.
Trunkated
A showcase of excerpts and short works-in-progress of new material from London's most exciting artists across the arts. Puppetry, physical theatre, performance art... A Blue Elephant season in one evening!
The Thinker
The story of how the wounded ego must hide everything we believe that is unacceptable about ourselves. To fulfil this task the ego builds a mask to prove to others that we don't have so many defects. The play is depicted very creatively mixing the use of masks, shadow and rod puppets, object animation, physical theatre and art installation to create a magical and unique atmosphere.
Outside Puppets is an exciting new puppet company that produces high quality contemporary theatre based puppetry shows.
What You Risk
London 1936. Tensions are running high. Europe is inching closer to war and the home front is fraught. In East London pressure mounts as Oswald Mosley prepares his Fascist 'Blackshirts' to march on the immigrant population and show them they are not welcome. On October 4th, 250,000 people come together to defend the East End.
Using verbatim and historical accounts, Scrawny Cat Theatre Company brings to life the story behind the Battle of Cable Street. The lives of three women, from very different walks of life, become intertwined as the dramatic events of that day unfold, with unforgettable consequences.
Chips
Chips delves into the friendship of two young women who live for booze and sequined pants. Through witty observations and discerning movement, Chips exposes the less attractive side of Saturday's nightlife. Through wit, backchat and some drunken dancing, the Mustdashios draw on their cheeky northern unabashedness to take you on a journey in which they laugh, dance and possibly cry their way through an intoxicated friendship.
Machines for Living
There is functional and efficient performance, he claims, between artist and the hi-tech faith.
But this is Architecture.
Machines For Living is –
he wishes his buildings to try to explain.
'Let Slip' are a Lecoq-trained duo.
Machines for living have been given a full production at the Blue Elephant Theatre from Tuesday 22 of May to Saturday 16th of June 2012.
Tonight, with COD
A lady emerges from the shadow of the street. Inexplicably, COD stumbles upon a night of extravaganza in a desolate nightclub.
A change has been forced upon COD’s body due to unfortunate circumstances. What is he going to do? How is he going to deal with it? Can the lady lead him to where he wants to be?
It’s all confusing time for a cod like him especially with an unfamiliar emotion beginning to sprout within. Should he choose 'I' or should he choose 'Ai'*?
(* Ai - "love" in Japanese)
RAW
Solo exhibition of painting and installation work by this Russian artist exploring the stigma of mental illness.
Writers at Work: The Fantastical Adventures of [Not] Being With You
Leaping between moments in time, from train cars to undersea exploits to low-tech laser tag, two people pull each other along an impulsive journey through memory, adventure, and a relationship on tenterhooks. These two men bend narrative to their whim, battling with lists, reconciling with biscuits, and running from a reality they can't decide to embrace or defy.
There are moments in life that everything is either before or after; The Fantastical Adventures of [Not] Being With You is about those.
Writers at Work: Flying Asparagus
Could you memorize a whole volume of the Britannica in an hour? Do you look people in the eyes? What’s the most unusual pet you would have? You hate green peas, don’t you? How do you react when people touch you?
Max has asparagus in his head. Or so he thinks. Trapped in a research programme, he is trying to resist, to find himself, to exceed his limits. Max is our alter-ego. In his case, it’s called Asperger's. It could also simply be called Different.
Mi patria son mis zapatos (My Hometown is in my Shoes) and The Other
Mi patria son mis zapatos
A piece exploring the conflict of nomadic existence through movement, primitive drums and song. Can one find permanent residence in one’s own footwear?
- Choreographer and dancer
- Florencia Guerberof
- Musicians
- Najib Coutya (voice and oud) & Elizabeth Nott (percussion)
- Lighting
- Arata Mori
The Other
SOnal
Lost in the night garden
A man comes across a strange creature
The Moth
Repelled by her
Yet intrigued
They dance towards the light
- Cast
- Genovel Andrei Alexa & Lucia Tong
- Visual Projections by
- SOnal, Luc Song & Maaike Anne Stevens
Seemingly Invisible
“Rain was pouring in London Town…”
People pass you by, time ticks away on a typical British morning until, out of the settling gloom, an almost tangible and apparently invisible force emerges… What this force offers is for every individual to discover.
Smoking Apples Theatre invites you to embark on a journey, through trial and tribulation, to the ultimate destination where they give you back your dreams…
The Book of Disquiet
Listed as one of The Guardian's top 100 books of all time, Fernando Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet was discovered in a trunk in his apartment in Lisbon after his death in 1935. Part novel, part memoir, part philosophical meditation on the futility of living, Pessoa’s Livro defies definition and endures as a testament to modernist writing.
Why do I feel strangely drawn to the kind of people I’d usually run a mile from? Religious fundamentalists, for example. At least those guys make an effort. They yearn for what they really don’t know. The rest of us cross the stage as walk-ons, extras, without any lines. Satisfied with the pompous solemnity of the crossing itself.
(Wo)men and me
"'Cause it's OK to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl
Is degrading
'Cause you think that being a girl
Is degrading
But secretly you'd love to know
What it's like, wouldn't you?
What it feels like for a girl"
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Secret Garden
Performance maker and choreographer Tonny A returns to the Blue Elephant with an exploration of androgyny and psychological identity with this new dance double bill.
AR-men is a male duet which engages in a physical dialogue, playing with their bodies' own contradictions, contrasts and similarities, to perfect and eventually challenge the ultimate image of the Masculine Man.
Women in Me ponders what a man is meant to make of his sexual and social identities when he re-acquaints himself with his lost femininity. A blend of sensual, erotic and dark undertones, this solo piece playfully takes on what it feels to be feminine inside a man's body.
Sweet or Sour specializes in contemporary performance as well as in experimental dance and physical theatre, often crossing over various artistic disciplines to conceive pieces that deal with sexuality, ethnicity and social identity.
Transformers
An exhibition of mixed media drawings.
Costume transforms; the performer transforms... 'Walk a mile in my shoes' means so much more if they are transparent perspex stilettos and if you are a six foot muscular black man.
How we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us cannot be controlled but it can be manipulated and subverted. How we dress can be manipulative and subversive...
Barbe Bleue
Bluebeard had many wives, in succession, and killed every one. Can Louise turn the tide, or will she too fall victim to Perrault's notorious killer?
The setting: a London artist's studio flat. The time: very early in the morning... Or is it very late at night? Louise is sleeplessly searching for inspiration, until her work is interrupted by the arrival of a surprising visitor. Theatre Témoin uses puppetry, clowning, and original music to take you on a journey through urban isolation and psychosis to unlock the forbidden chamber of the creative mind.
A reworking of Barbe Blue has been given a full production at The Blue Elephant Theatre from Tuesday 28 February - Saturday 17 March under the new title of The Fantasist.
Casa and Magical Chairs
Casa
A theatrical dance piece with elements of structured improvisation, a collage of still images and stylized sketches inspired from typical everyday life situations.
Big heavy coats come to life... Characters go through individual journeys... Sense of belonging and what makes a place home are questioned...
Magical Chairs
"There are an estimated 143 million abandoned chairs worldwide. Many millions more are abandoned or separated from their immediate and extended owners, living on the street, in institutions, or supporting their siblings on their own..."
A short play about childhood, magic tricks and musical chairs brings you a game of the absurdist kind, with realistic undertones and dystopic nuances. Can you take it seriously? Can you enjoy it?
www.youtube.com/user/annaritamazzilli#p/a/u/0/J60xJa3CEbQ