The London International Mime Festival has yet again unveiled a smorgasboard of hidden gems, delighting audiences with a theatrical vocabulary of the physical, the visual and the genre defying. He Who Falls quite literally rips up the floor boards and levitates expectation with its imaginative charm.
The Berlin-based company FAMILIE FLÖZ was founded in 1994 and has pioneered a new European mask theatre. Their stories are developed in a creatively collective process and every production starts out with a new ensemble. After presenting their sell-out shows Teatro Delusio, Ristorante Immortale and Hotel Paradiso, these masters of mask theatre explore the friendship of three men, from infancy to old age and the reality of death in their beautiful production Infinita.
The Best Thing was the phrase that was constantly thrown at young women. ‘It’s the best thing for the baby, it’s the best thing for you; sign here.’ The Best Thing dives into the 1960s, charting the journey of a young woman whose life is changed irrevocably after vinyl records and rock and roll finds her along with a trendy young man. A fan of The Beatles and the like, we see this young lady, who we can hazard at being in her late teens, living life like most of us did during this period of time. She listens to unbearably loud music (for her father), she rolls up her skirt and gets immediately reprimanded, and apart from the usual parental disputes she is portrayed as a happy fun-loving girl.
A short and touching performance dealing with the hardships of losing a family member from one’s life, and how one’s imagination can conjure up a world of possibilities. The Wrong Crowd (Devon based visual theatre company) develop a clear and visually appealing work of art that takes audiences by the edge of their seats and catapults them into this dynamic new world. The piece is all a part of the London International Mime Festival and hence has no dialogue or words present throughout, but still impacts and engage the whole theatre by just subtle facial expressions; as well as bold colours and thrilling puppetry.
If you believe that a theatre performance cannot be truly scary because The Woman in Black left you unimpressed and Ghost Stories was only slightly frightening, you should see Jakop Ahlborn’s homage to the horror-movie genre: a truly gruesome and genuinely terrifying show – but also quite funny.
I’d like to start with saying that for me, Circa are one of, if not the most exciting companies premiering their work at this years London International Mime Festival. This particular piece is developed from Moneteverdi’s Il Ritorno D’Ulisse, consequently becoming part circus show part opera – which is a surprisingly eloquent mix.
What’s great about theatre is that there isn’t a rule book as to what makes for a great show. The assumption is that if a show has a gripping narrative, then that’s 90% of the theatre experience covered, however, Trygve Wakenshaw subverts this notion, instead presenting a comic strip of absurd ideas that have the sold out auditorium chuckling from the get go.
Jean Baptiste Maillet and Romain Bermond, better known as STEREOPTIK, have entranced audiences alike since 2009 with their integration of cinematography and musical accompaniments to make pieces that truly stand out. A partnership that proves vital to the end result, Maillet and Bermond go beyond being performers of their pieces, designing every element, from the narrative, to the lighting, to the soundtrack embedded within each show. Ahead of their performance of Dark Circus at this year’s London International Festival, Theatrefullstop were able to speak Maillet and Bermond about performing at this year’s festival, how they both approach creating their work and the importance of LIMF for the promotion of physical and visual theatre.
Have you ever questioned your life, the moments of exaltation and events where you think this cannot get any better? Well in this presentation of making the most of moments, Baba Fish explore and interrogate the existence of life. An absurdist look into the life of an old man, this show is a journey of invention, memories and nostalgic occurrences. In collaboration with The London International Mime Festival, Baba Fish devise a production that is playful, melodramatic and contemplative.
The genre of visual theatre may seem quite vague and confusing. The term refers to a form of theatre that uses techniques other than speech to communicate a story. This can be anything from mime, to physical theatre, art installations to puppetry. The Wrong Crowd proudly bear the torch for visual theatre, integrating visually stunning puppets with an inventive narrative. Ahead of The Wrong Crowd’s London International Mime Festival debut of their show, Kite, Theatrefullstop were able to speak to the theatre company’s co-director and puppet designer and director, Rachael Canning about the festival’s importance in the theatre world, Kite‘s central themes and other artists she is looking forward to watching at this year’s festival.
(There is also a contribution to this interview from Movement Director Eddie Kay).