THE WORK

Play, try, fail and fail again.

This is the process, this is the work.

During rehearsals for Mirror2 we re-imagined how the performance of The Chair might develop. In all of my work, chairs the furniture the props are active actors in the piece.

The construction, design, sound and shape of the performances arrive from different directions. Its always a collaboration, a process.

In the past with works like Combine in 2012, there were five huge projections, five dances, 3 singers, recorded and live music.

This new work is stripped back, one object, one performer, one absence. No projections, no soundscape. Just an intense focus on the present.

The Chair is an exploration of the after effects of a suicide.

This work was only achieved through the collaboration with the French performer, dancer, actor and director Lise Boucon. We worked together, playing with ideas and bringing the piece to its current state.

First rehearsal

I wrote a lot of spoken text, the first version was really a short play. When Lise and I first road tested this piece in 2021, I gave Lise a verbal description and outlined the piece, the general direction, some key words and phrases, but thats all. She improvised around those few simple directions and instructions.

When we came together again at Theatre Deli to begin rehearsals, I reluctantly sent Lise some text, with the strict instructions to pay no attention and under no circumstances deliver the speeches. I asked Lise to find her own voice from her own experiences, I wanted it to be be authentic. Lis also had been close to others suicide.

As we progressed I gradually reduced the amount of spoken of text, until the third rehearsal when I said we will proceed without any words.

As we rehearsed the movements and actions were much more poignant than words could be and it settled into a non-spoken dance narrative.