Short Cut(s)/Catharsis

Following last year’s epic dance piece Generation Next, French performance maker and writer Tonny A. returns with Short Cut(s)/Catharsis, his first double bill of performance art, for a 3 days-run only, Thursday 11th – Saturday 13th June 2009. Produced by Sweet or Sour in association with The Blue Elephant, “Camberwell’s coolest venue” (as tipped by The Guardian), these two new experimental pieces move a step further towards the concept of installation art while still crossing boundaries between poetry, physical theatre, dance improvisation and multimedia.

Short Cut(s), whose title refers directly to Robert Altman’s 1993 movie of the same name, is a reflective interpretation of 5 short existentialist poems written by D.H Lawrence taken from his collection of Pansies and Unrhyming Poems. Drawings its inspiration from Ancient Greek theories of the Classical Elements, this visual and sonic representation of life after death takes on the modern perception of individual behaviors within a community.
Built upon an allusion to the opening scene of Virginia Wolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Catharsis depicts one day in the life of a man who reacquaints himself with some episodes from his past through the execution of choreographed and exorcising rituals. Beyond the spiritual images of redemption and rebirth, this solo performance also tackles the difficult subject of mental health.

Both pieces open innovative ways for Tonny A to further his collaborations with up and coming photographer Sonalle Maroo – whose new exhibition Ethnic Minority Domestic Violence Survivors opened at King’s Cross’s Housmans Bookshop last week and was recently featured in the Guardian’s Society column – and illustrator Daishu Ma to set a surreal panorama which permanently swings between illusory and authentic snapshots of our modern life. Currently working on her commissioned audio-visual installation which will be exhibited at Kings Place in the end of April 2009, Sweet or Sour resident and critically acclaimed sound artist Nela Brown teams up once again with Tonny A. to create a series of hypnotic compositions.

Short Cut(s)/Catharsis
11th – 19th June 2009, 8.00pm
@ The Blue Elephant Theatre, 59a Bethwin Rd, Camberwell, London, SE5 0XT (entrance on Thompson Ave)
Tickets - £10 (£7 conc. £6 Southwark Resident)
Booking– www.ticketweb.co.uk,
F.F.I - www.sweetsorsour.wordpress.com www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

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