Théâtre de L'Ange Fou, Resonance & Passage of Man

Review in Issue 10-1 | Spring 1998

Resonance is a new piece created as a 'dialectical collage' in response to Decroux's La Meditation and Passage of Man (1942). Whilst both pieces are performed with the high level of technical skill that reflects the work of the Ecole de Mime Corporel, the emotional and dramaturgical differences between the two pieces unbalances the evening as a whole.

With footage of Decroux performing acting as bookends, Resonance presents a series of tableaux which create a dialectical relationship with the original material. This structure, however, seems incomplete as the tableaux are not in continuous dialogue and exchange with La Meditation. From an audience perspective, the piece is rather an autonomous response to the film extract to which it is not possible to refer when it is not being projected. The strongest element is the use of music. Rather than as an accompaniment to illustrative mime, here the movement vocabulary is set against the music; this was the real dialogue in the piece as images came out of the interaction between the two forms.

Passage of Man is a much more evocative and haunting work; a requiem for humanity with the strength of a mimography rooted in symbolist-impressionist form. It is powerfully yet also delicately performed, having an emotional depth that is surprisingly missing from the previous piece.

At moments it reached that peak when thought and feeling combine so that thoughts are sensed and feelings become impressions or images laid on the mind. I would have liked more information in the programme about the Decroux originals: it was not appropriate to assume a knowledge of his work from a non-specialist audience.

Artforms
Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Jan 1998

This article in the magazine

Issue 10-1
p. 25