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The
Very Best Of Mimos
It
was in 1983 that Périgueux took a gamble: to
explore the art of mime in all its extraordinary
diversity. In the fifteen years since, it has
indisputably become a major rendez-vous for this
still little-known art. Périgueux has been
host both to the great classic mimes and, above
all, to the most innovative. From old favourites to
the newest of the new, Mimos at Périgueux
has kept its sights firmly on quality. The festival
has evolved with its mimes; and the mimes have
grown with the festival.
More than ever this year, Mimos is sharing its
energies with artists it has already helped on
their way, and with some who deserve to be. Five
former Prix Mimos award-winners return with new
creations, and who can complain?
Semola,
here before with "In concert", is to give
"Esperanto", a series of exuberant images on that
inseparable couple, life and death. The Russians of
Derevo
have
selected two of their ten routines, "Red Zone" and
"The Rider", the first an echo of Japanese buto and
Beckett's theatre of the absurd with a thoroughly
Slavic streak of melancholy, the second a
tragi-comedy of the world which one longs to escape
for the next. The delicious Ilka Schönbein and
her Meschugge
Theatre
return with a devilish tale for children, straight
out of Grimm: her "Frog King" is a magical blend of
mime, masks and marionnettes.
The Théâtre
du Mouvement
is having a twentieth-anniversary retrospective,
paradoxically something of a youth cure. They are
also to present a special evening in tribute to
their master, Etienne Decroux. And there is
Carmelo,
performing once more in the streets of
Périgueux, generous and modest, skilful and
engaging, ever wonderfully human.
Videos
will pay tribute to those award-winners not on the
Mimos festival programme this year __ Stoka, Ralf
Ralf, and the Josef Nadj and Mossoux-Bonté
companies. Tribute is also due, incidentally, to
the judging skills of the annual press juries.
Hindsight confirms that, since 1989, the
prize-winning performances have been among the best
of the decade. Which of this year's Mimos newcomers
is destined for the ranks of the very best of
Mimos? The Alfred
Theatre
with "Plates" or "The Hanging Man" ? The
Commedia
Infinita
and "Madame et Monsieur O" ?
The
Astrakhan
Theatre's
"Imprints" ? Barbara
Duijfjes and
"Earwitness" ? "Hero's Catalogue" by
Axe
Group
?
Yllana
and "Glub Glub"? Dram*Bakus
and their "Limited Company" (called
"Société Anonyme" in French, )?
"Funereal Carmen" by the Teatr Biuro
Podrozy
? Or perhaps this year's revelation will be in the
streets, where as usual the programme is a full
one: the Albedo
Company with
"Big Brudders" , Bedlam
Oz
with "Slinkies" , the Schrikkel
Theatre
, the Ta Ta Di Di Teatro. There are to be two
premières __ one by the Théâtre
du Prato
and a second, "The Scribe" by Dominique Lemaire,
alias Perrotin Lartiche, with his scribe's eye view
of Mimos at the end of the festival .
Midday to Midnight: Every morning at eleven-thirty,
the beauties of the streets of this lovely
Rennaissance city lead naturally to the Place St
Louis, to the meeting with the day's festival
performers. An opportunity for first impressions,
before the on-stage revelations to come. And much
later, when the shows are done for the night, there
is a chance, at one of the two restaurants in the
Place de la Vertu, to share a late meal with the
performers journalists and spectators who are the
Mimos festival.
©
Persona Grata.
Attention !!!
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