Short Cut(s) & Catharsis @ The Blue Elephant Theatre, June 11th – 12th – 13th

For its first collaboration with The Blue Elephant Theatre, Sweet or Sour presents Short Cut(s) & Catharsis, a double bill of performance art on the 11th, 12th & 13th June 2009.
Catharsis depicts the personal quest of a disgraced man for rebirth through a series of choreographed rituals and visual confessions. Blending live projections, introspective movements with ambiguous written and spoken words, this performance art piece explores the themes of redemption, inner struggles to regain dignity and self-esteem.
Short Cut(s) is a performance installation inspired by the Ancient Greek and Medieval theories of The Classical Elements. Referring to R. Altman’s film, Short Cuts, this experimental piece re-interprets some of D.H Lawrence existentialist poems through movement, spoken words and multimedia to explore the feelings of isolation, resistance and the constant fear of alienation experienced by 5 lost souls condemned to wander eternally in the Abyss.
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Short Cut(s): The Exhibition is currently open @ the Blue Elephant Theatre

French performance maker Tonny A (Sweet & Sour, In the Shadows of Senghor & Generation Next) is currently teaming up with up and coming photographer Sonalle and Illustrator Daishu Ma on the Mixed media exhibition Cathartic Cuts.

This exciting triple collaboration, which opens at the Upstairs Gallery of The Blue Elephant Theatre on Tuesday 19th May 2009, looks behind the scene of Tonny A’s new pieces of performance art, Short Cut(s) & Catharsis, aiming to give a personal insight into the different stages of each piece’s creative process. Showcasing a body of photographic work which captures the physical strength of the body and series of drawings exposing the vulnerable side of the soul – or vice versa – Cathartic Cuts explores further some of the existentialist themes that Tonny A will tackle in both Short Cut(s) and Catharsis.

Daishu Ma is an illustrator whose work has been linked with poetry, short stories, folk tales and performance art. Her illustrations explore the languages of story telling through constructing theatrical imagery that weaves together complex narratives, moods and human emotions. Trained in classical oriental art, her illustrations are primarily drawn and painted by hand. Daishu completed her MA in Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, and is currently working with projects based in London and China.
Sonalle travelled alone for almost Ten years through Europe, Asia and Latin America observing and participating in the kaleidoscope of cultures and sights encountered. She has worked alongside numerous successful photographers in New York and Paris, coupled with developing several diverse photographic projects in selected cities worldwide. Since her recent return to London, Sonalle has assisted Magnum Photographer, Mr. Chris Steele-Perkins, whilst creating many thought-provoking and issue-based assignments that have raised public consciousness. Her latest project Ethnic Minority Domestic Violence Survivors can currently be seen King’s Cross’s Housmans bookshop (www.sonalle.com).

Cathartic Cuts runs from Tuesday 19th May to 13th June 2009, accompanying Tonny A’s double bill of performance art, which opens on Thursday 11th June 2009 for a 3 nights run only at The Blue Elephant Theatre. The exhibition is organized by Sweet or Sour in association with the Blue Elephant Theatre; it first offers for a few days an outlook on Daishu’s previous existing work before presenting the outcomes of Sonalle, Daishu’s collaborations with Tonny and its performers for the remaining of its run.

Cathartic cuts
19th May – 13th June 2009
@ The Blue Elephant Theatre, 59a Bethwin Rd, Camberwell, London, SE5 0XT (entrance on Thompson Ave)
7pm – 11pm Tuesday to Saturday (open 10am – 6pm by appointment only)
Free Entrance
F.F.I – www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

Short Cut(s) & Catharsis @ The Blue Elephant Theatre, June 11th – 12th – 13th (Part II)

Following last year’s epic dance piece Generation Next, French performance maker and writer Tonny A. returns with Short Cut(s)/Catharsis, his first double bill of performance art, for a 3 days-run only, Thursday 11th – Saturday 13th June 2009. Produced by Sweet or Sour in association with The Blue Elephant, “Camberwell’s coolest venue” (as tipped by The Guardian), these two new experimental pieces move a step further towards the concept of installation art while still crossing boundaries between poetry, physical theatre, dance improvisation and multimedia.

Short Cut(s), whose title refers directly to Robert Altman’s 1993 movie of the same name, is a reflective interpretation of 5 short existentialist poems written by D.H Lawrence taken from his collection of Pansies and Unrhyming Poems. Drawings its inspiration from Ancient Greek theories of the Classical Elements, this visual and sonic representation of life after death takes on the modern perception of individual behaviors within a community.
Built upon an allusion to the opening scene of Virginia Wolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Catharsis depicts one day in the life of a man who reacquaints himself with some episodes from his past through the execution of choreographed and exorcising rituals. Beyond the spiritual images of redemption and rebirth, this solo performance also tackles the difficult subject of mental health.

Both pieces open innovative ways for Tonny A to further his collaborations with up and coming photographer Sonalle Maroo – whose new exhibition Ethnic Minority Domestic Violence Survivors opened at King’s Cross’s Housmans Bookshop last week and was recently featured in the Guardian’s Society column – and illustrator Daishu Ma to set a surreal panorama which permanently swings between illusory and authentic snapshots of our modern life. Currently working on her commissioned audio-visual installation which will be exhibited at Kings Place in the end of April 2009, Sweet or Sour resident and critically acclaimed sound artist Nela Brown teams up once again with Tonny A. to create a series of hypnotic compositions.

Creative Team:
Director – Tonny A
Cast – Tonny A (Catharsis), Aysegul Asan Murphy, Patric Deony, Jay Nelson, Luke Putres and Bronwen Sharp
Sound Design – Nela Brown
Visual Design – Daishu Ma (Illustrations), Sonalle Maroo (Photography)
Costume & Lighting Design – Tonny A, Nicola Maddox

Short Cut(s)/Catharsis
11th – 19th June 2009, 8.00pm
@ The Blue Elephant Theatre, 59a Bethwin Rd, Camberwell, London, SE5 0XT (entrance on Thompson Ave)
Tickets – £10 (£7 conc. £6 Southwark Resident)
Booking– www.ticketweb.co.uk
F.F.I – www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

Generation Next

Generation Next

 

 

@ The Space

20th – 22nd November 2008, 7.30pm

@ The Pacific Playhouse

26th – 30th Nov 08 7pm (4pm, Sunday)

Tickets – £10/£8/£6 (Conc.)

Booking– www.ticketweb.co.uk; Tel bookings: 0844 4 77 1000 or 075 34 027 557 

 ” Generation Next: a performance installation with poetry, Visuals, historical speeches and people”

 

Sweet or Sour, formerly known as JCA Productions, is happy to announce the debut of Tonny A’s new theatre piece, Generation Next on Thursday 20^th November 2008. Previewed until the 22^nd November at The Space in East London, the piece then resides for a limited run at The Pacific Playhouse from the 26^th to the 30^th November 2008. 

 

 

After an enthusiastic audience’s response to last year’s revival of physical theatre production “In The Shadows of Senghor”, performance maker and writer Tonny A. (Hackney Empire, Baron’s Court Theatre) challenges the notion of dance theatre with his new experimental show. Generation Next marries contemporary dance, modern poetry and multimedia to recapture the insurgent and buoyant spirit of 1968.

 

 “As the nostalgic focus on 1968 carried on through this year, a strong feeling of déjà-vu emerged from hearing about the controversies of the Vietnam War, the invasion of Prague and all I could think of was Milan Kundera’s interpretation of History repeating itself: what happened once might never have happened at all“. Thus, the piece re-connects with some of the historical moments of that year, drawing on the principle of Eternal Return, as argued by Kundera in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”.

Through a succession of 6 chapters, Generation Next develops into a recomposed timeline of 1968 which also reworks the visionary poetry of D.H. Lawrence while it ponders whether History still influences the evolution of our modern society and if the past can still inform our individual identity.

 Tonny A. has conceived this intense conceptual performance collaboratively with a new cast of actors and dancers, including: Claire Porter (winner of the Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 2002 for her performance and co-direction of 100), Eric Geynes (Closer, The Courtyard Theatre) Aysegul Asan Murphy (Silver Birch House, Arcola Theatre), Chris Mead (SLSM, The Basement in Brighton).

 The distinctive aesthetic of the show has been designed by visual artist Orly Orbach – whose artwork featured in Punch Drunk Theatre Company’s recent installation “The Masque of the Red Death” at the BAC – and Sound designer Nela Brown whose composition for Hayan Theatre’s “The Voice of Things” has thrilled Edinburgh critics in 2007.

 Generation Next  is :

Performed by Aysegul Asan Murphy (1918), Katharin Cooper (1948) , Eric Geynes (1928), Chris Mead (1968), Claire Porter (2008), Mimi Terano (1908) & Ria Uttridge (1938). 

Directed by Tonny A.

Designed by Nela Brown (Sound), Lisa Jahovic (Costume) & Orly Orbach (Artwork).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs of a Dance Rehearsal

Photographs of a Dance Rehearsal was curated by Augusto Corrieri and presented by Camden Arts Centre. It’s a durational performance when 5 professional dancers improvised “privately” inside the large Artist’s Studio at Camden Arts Centre, with no one else present to watch. Whenever a member of the public opened the door of the space and walked into the room, the action stopped; each dancer held their still position.  When the viewer leaves the room, the movement-improvisation resumed.