Translunar Paradise
Amy Danbrowsky • Published 30 Jan 2012 09:30
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This interview has done nothing to dispel the growing buzz surrounding Translunar Paradise. A wordless play dealing with themes of love, loss and love lost, each central to this heart-achingly beautiful performance.
From collecting an array of Awards, including The Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award 2011, to the upcoming tour, it's been a whirlwind for Theatre Ad Infinitum, and with so much to tell us, The Guide felt it best to leave it up to the the theatre's founder and the play's leading man, George Mann, to illuminate the pain behind it, the pleasure of performing it and the next steps for moving his masterpiece to the world's stage.
"It's been fantastic, we really can't complain or ask for more. We've had a great audience reaction and some really nice critiques. It all started at Be Festive, in Birmingham, held in conjunction with MAC. They champion new European theatre and dance work and and it's going somewhere fast. We went on to win the development award and very quickly got in with The Lowry and Redbridge Drama Centre, in London. We made sure we got lots of people from the audience to watch the show, to make sure it was clear and accessible to everyone and not too 'arty-farty', then we opened in 2011, reworked and debuted, toured 12/13 dates in the Autumn and then took it abroad.
Phew, now rest for the wicked! It's had some brilliant reviews, but it's not your typical show. Combining mime, music and physical theatre, George sheds some light on why he feels the show works so well and the inspirations behind it. "One of the main reasons is the humanity and technical precision - people like to watch anything skillful. It's an emotional experience that speaks to people in a human way.
And of the inspirations behind it, George says: "It is multi-faceted. I had two major experiences of death and the others did too. A close friend died of Cystic Fybrosis and my dad died, he suffered with lung cancer for eight years, so I experienced premature grief... knowing that he would die and not wanting to burden him with my feelings left me wanting to share something. The tower, by WB Yeats, speaks about a place called Translunar Paradise, and it really struck me and stayed with me. It's like a place where anything that ever was can be and always will be. Like an imaginary limbo.
I didn't want it to be self-indulgent, I wanted to create a distance and something people could relate to."
Relying on movement rather than words, the show is extremely physical, so The Guide wanted to get to grips with the unique performance medium used and preparation that goes into such a show.
"The play was put together over one year and a half, then we had 12 to13 weeks of rehearsals, so it is really demanding and knackering. I do a lot of yoga and pilates to keep myself fit and get up-to-scratch with the moves. We've just had a two-month break and I'm in pain, everything aches, and it takes a while to get back into it.
"The technique was acquired from my training at LeCoq in Paris, and it combines physical storytelling and elements of mime. We've developed it ourselves as a universal language of gestures that can be read through the body and masks. There's also a slight element of puppetry thrown in."
George describes the set as minimal, with only a table and chairs, costumes and masks, designed by Madame Tussauds' Victoria Deacon, but ensures us 'everything has a function and nothing is wasted'.
The play has a musical backdrop, all lovingly composed by the theatre group, including a rendition of Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again. George tells us:
"The table transforms into a bed and back again. All costumes become a part of the piece. Everything used has a function, nothing is wasted.
"We wrote the music and music is central and haunting to the piece. We tell the story through it. Kim plays the accordian. She's the guardian of music and without Kim's role the play wouldn't work."
After just setting up a base in Canada, in terms of the gleaming future we see for this successful theatre group, George says: "We're going all over. We wanted to make theatre for an international audience and we don't want to be alone in it. We have merged with other directors that have a similar ethos to make theatre that crosses the boundaries. We trained in Paris, as well as in England, so we are in awe of all of the different performance possibilities out there and we want to make theatre that touches people more broadly. Making theatre with that in mind to develop an international community."
See Translunar Paradise on Wednesday, February 1, at 7.30pm, at Norden Farm and Saturday, February 4, at 8pm, at South Hill Park. Book via www.nordenfarm.org.uk or www.southhillpark.org.uk or call Norden Farm on 01628 788997 or South Hill Park on 01344 484 123.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 26 Jan 12
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