{"id":1134,"date":"2020-11-20T18:25:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T17:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/?p=1134"},"modified":"2020-11-20T18:25:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T17:25:41","slug":"simsalabim-productions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/?p=1134","title":{"rendered":"Simsalabim Productions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Part of the creative team for the decors & small role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other national Theater London article :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simsalabim Productions, France, 55mins<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Voila! Europe Festival, London<\/strong> | November 9-22, 2020<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nick Awde<\/strong> | THE X REPORT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Escape of Iris Dupont \u2013 aka L\u2019Evasion d\u2019Iris Dupont \u2013 is a solo mask piece made as a direct artistic response to our Covid times. And although devised and performed within the specific setting of lockdown in the South of France, it\u2019s delightfully universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Delightfully\u2019 is an odd word of choice perhaps, but the success of this piece lies very much in finding the positive at the moment and celebrating it while acknowledging the paradox of how the social animal that is humankind has had to save itself (from itself) through isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With smatterings of French, mainly public services announcements subtitled in English, Freya Stang\u2019s pensioner, who lives alone, suddenly finds her routine of cleaning her impeccable home in a sleepy provincial town interrupted by news flashes announcing the invasion of the virus and lockdown. Like wartime bulletins, each signs off with \u201cVive la r\u00e9publique!\u201d \u2013 \u201cLong live the Republic!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New regulations are continually announced, rapidly corralling older people in their own home and in care homes into an utterly cut-off existence. A clock ticks relentlessly, pushing Iris deeper into quarantine, and as the radio blares out \u201cWhile at home take care of your loved ones!\u201d, the minutiae of her daily habits become a poignant lifeline: laying madeleines on a plate, hoovering, dusting, expanded by new routines prompted by the radio such as reading, workouts, dancing with herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running gags build as she tries to follow the rules and impose order on her own life, but as the daily totals of cases and deaths mount, her ennui grows exponentially \u2013 as do the rapture and despair. And then one day activity starts to enter from outside \u2013 church bells, a mask left at her door \u2013 along with the grim reports of older people dying in care homes with no one to comfort them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So one day she escapes, and what has so far been a filmed stage production before a present audience, now becomes a roaming street video as Iris wanders her town. It\u2019s clear that she\u2019s not breaking any law nor is she fleeing, seeking haven elsewhere. Going outside is her breakout and her reconnection, resetting her normal solitude in place of the imposed isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Simsalabim\u2019s production, Stang keeps focus throughout as performer and director, her dutifully restrained physicality signalling the nuances of Iris\u2019s moods and changes. The action is well paced and never stops long enough to wallow in itself (a pitfall of mask theatre) \u2013 in fact the non-dialogue fits the cloying silence of quarantine, limned by the default look of Iris\u2019s mask (resigned bemusement I\u2019ll hazard).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Elisabeth Mazauric on camera, Stang connected with the world narrative by using their daily allowance of 60 minutes exercise to film the outside scenes. And it\u2019s an interesting transition, the strangely deserted town evoking \u2018The Day After\u2026\u2019 scenarios as the camera follows her around the town\u2019s empty squares and streets. Eventually Iris encounters other town inhabitants \u2013 real-life \u2013 who greet her from a distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creative team convincingly make a little go a long way: Coco as the bever with Rika Deryckere\u2019s as the bird and her chintzy painted interior of Iris\u2019s flat, costumes by Fran\u00e7oise Schira with the help of Philippe Schira, large marionettes by Solenne Capmas, while Didier Peigle\u2019s sound design offsets the radio flashes with Vivaldi, pop, chamber folk and birdsong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 simsalabimproductions.com<\/strong><\/a>
\u2022 voilafestival.co.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part of the creative team for the decors & small role. Other national Theater London article : Simsalabim Productions, France, 55mins Voila! Europe Festival, London | November 9-22, 2020 Nick Awde | THE X REPORT The Escape of Iris Dupont \u2013 aka L\u2019Evasion d\u2019Iris Dupont \u2013 is a solo mask piece made as a direct artistic … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-n2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1136,"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions\/1136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rikaderyckere.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}