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LE SONGE / DREAMPLAY, November and December 4 2004

dream of the best and the worst of our city and the people who inhabit it

dream of shifting languages, politics and cultures

dream of beliefs and spirituality, which have become fractured and disoriented

dream of the beauty and the horror, the agony and the ecstasy of our lives today

The daughter of god arrives on earth to see if human beings are still deserving of his compassion. You are invited to explore this dream, first created by Strindberg, and now updated to present day Montreal. Come reflect with us upon the problems and obsessions of our society.

Based on the play by August Strindberg

Le Songe / dreamplay ran for 15 performances at Théâtre La Chappelle November 16- December 4 2004. The show included arial circus performance, stylised movement sequences, live polyphonic singing, video sequences, an original electroacoustic score, and committed performances by eight accomplished actors. It was performed in French and English, with several other languages being introduced at various points. The piece ran for two hours with no intermission (in fact we began 15 minutes later than advertised in order to allow the audience an ‘intermission’ prior to the performance).

We were very proud of our achievement with this piece. Audience responses to it varied along a spectrum from being deeply moved and engaged to interested and enthusiastic to less engaged and frustrated to hostile and downright angry. This range of response might be expected to the first performances of a new adaptation of such a difficult and challenging piece of theatre.

A contemporary bilingual adaptation

Director Kate Bligh has adapted Strindberg’s masterpiece A Dream Play to modern day Montreal. While adhering rigorously to the structure created by this acknowledged giant of Western drama, Bligh has introduced contemporary preoccupations and excised the arcane habits and mores of turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Swedish society. This adaptation incorporates translations and interpretations of Strindberg’s original text, improvisations and stories from members of the temenos ensemble, references to many ancient and more recent literary and religious works, and monologues written by three promising young Montreal writers; Owen Belgrade, Anne-Marie Boivin and Joris Jarsky. This multi-media production includes video, electro-acoustic music, magic and circus skills.

Direction & Adaptation : Kate Bligh

With improvised, written and devised contributions from: Lucas Fehr, Sadia Mahmood, Marc Mauduit, John Mounsteven, Marcela Pizarro Minella, Elkahna Talbi, André Doucet, Marcelo Arroyo, Martin-David Peters.

With corrections and translations by all those listed above, and Anne-Marie Boivin, Elaine Normandeau.

Cast
Sadia Mahmood
Marcelo Arroyo
André Doucet
Lucas Fehr
John Mounsteven
Martin-David Peters
Marcela Pizarro
Elkahna Talbi 		Design
Eric Mongerson : Sets and lights
Tomas Phillips : Music
Ivan Presser : Video
Susana Vera : Costumes


Théâtre La Chapelle, 3800 St-Dominique

Le Songe / dreamplay was included as one of ten productions in The Gazette’s ‘Top theatre picks of 2004’.

Some extracts from press reviews:

An endlessly challenging show, Le Songe / dreamplay is vigorously recommended to anyone not ready to give up on the notion that theatre ought to deliver more than just a few hours of painless diversion.

So don’t ever accuse director Kate Bligh of walking away from a serious challenge. …our director least afraid to take drama’s less traveled roads.

Matt Radz, The Gazette

…on rend plutôt bien une certaine réalité montréalaise, et que les nouveaux personnages, hauts en couleur, respectent assez bien l’énergie et la direction originales.

…tous les comédiens chantent bien et les parties musicales sont remarquables.

Stéphane Despatie, Le Voir

 

 

C R A V E , November 2003

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"Kate Bligh's got the dibs on the title of season's best director … … pure genius …"
Matt Radz, The Gazette

"une audace éloquente … où l'intensité ne se dément jamais."
Sophie Pouliot, Le Devoir

THE PLAY
A quartet of voices intermingle feelings of desire and resentment, optimism and despair. Are they caught in a trap, or willing prisoners? Are they more, or less, lost than we are?

Crave maps some of the most unforgiving internal landscapes; of loneliness, of mental collapse, of love. While bleakness and desperation are a recurring feature of Kane's work, Crave, her final piece also offers aching reverberations of beauty and optimism. In this exquisitely crafted piece of theatre Kane combines sly allusions to Shakespeare, TS Eliot and children's songs with flashes of personal revelation and excerpts from her own love letters.

In English

THE CREATIVE TEAM
Directed by Kate Bligh
Designed by Ève-Line Leduc
Lighting by Eric Mongerson
Original music composed and performed by John Phillips & Tomas Phillips
Stage managed by Emily Newell
Cast: Lucas Fehr, Carmen Grant, Sadia Mahmood, John Mounsteven

 

Xstasis, May 2003

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On May 28, 29 and 30 2003 temenos took over the streets of Montreal with the Xstasis project co-produced with the British company, OPTIK.

The first of temenos' projects was in collaboration with OPTIK, a theatre performance group from Great Britain which has been touring internationally for more than 10 years. Their unique performance style, based on spontaneous creative impulses, weaves together music, technology and direct action provoking distinct thoughts and responses from every onlooker.

OPTIK explores impulse through the body and movement. Their work is a sculptural performance adapted to the performance space. They create images of connection and disconnection, of organization and chaos in space.

The two week preparatory workshop for this production entitled Xstasis, was held in collaboration with Concordia University. Five artistss from the OPTIK group worked with members of the temenos ensemble as well as students from the theatre and music departments of the University in preparation for the three public presentations. These were one outdoor performance and two indoor performances with live video and music.