The spectacle’s story comes from the relationship between Tiago Rodrigues and his grandmother Cândida, a cook and diligent reader, who used to memorize excerpts from books, many given by his grandson on his visits. By Heart deals with the bond between literature and memory, especially the affective aspect of this relationship. It is a theatre that embraces itself as a space for sharing knowledge that cannot be measured, that is not tangible – such as the hiding spot that we create, in our brains and hearts, for prohibited texts during authoritarian regimes, memorizing the works and securing their survival. over time. During the solo, the actor and director works on verses memorization while he talks about his almost blind grandma, about literary characters, writers and critics (like William Shakespeare, Boris Pasnernak, Ray Bradbury and George Steiner), also of a Dutch TV show called Beauty and Consolation.

Actor, director and playwright, Tiago Rodrigues approaches the theatre as an assembly: a place to meet and share ideas. He became famous for making shows transiting between reality and fantasy, filled with great poetic and thought sophistication. Still as a student, in 1997, he worked with the tg STAN group and, in 2003, he co-founded the Mundo Perfeito group with Magda Bizarro, in which he created and presented about 30 shows in more than 20 countries. He was also a theatre teacher at institutions such as the Belgian dance school PARTS, directed by choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, the Swiss school of performing arts Manufacture and the international project École des Maîtres. Parallel to his work in theatre, he wrote screenplays for films and TV series, articles, poetry and essays. Some of his most prominent works are By Heart, Antônio and Cleopatra, Bovary, Como Ela Morre and Blow, which debuted at Festival d’Avignon 2017. In 2018, he won the XV Europa Realidades Teatrais Award. In the same year, he received the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government, and recently received the 2019 Pessoa Award. Since 2015, Rodrigues has been the artistic director of the National Theatre D. Maria II, one of the main theatres in Europe.

CRITICS

This is about heart. About storytelling. About memory. And about books. It is theatre boiled down to a powerful essence. It is one of the most gently, simply, complex pieces of work you will ever see. And all of it delivered with warmth, exuberance and much humour. By Heart is exquisite.

TRACEY KORSTEN, Glam Adelaide

From Shakespeare to Ray Bradbury, this refreshing take on modern day theatre is an ode to the power of memory. And to the notion that even if freedom, books and your body are stripped away, nothing and nobody can take from you the words stowed within your heart.

EDWINA SLEIGH, revista Fest

Rodrigues is a great director, but what makes him greater than life is the way he masterfully writes about everything and creates characters with whom we sympathize and even fall in love with.

CÁTIA FAÍSCO, The Theatre Times

TEXT, ENACTING AND PERFORMANCE: Tiago Rodrigues
WITH FRAGMENTS AND QUOTES FROM: William Shakespeare, Ray Bradbury, George Steiner and Joseph Brodsky, among others
SET, PROPS AND COSTUMES: Magda Bizarro
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Rita Forjaz
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION IN ORIGINAL CONCEPT: Magda Bizarro and Rita Mendes
PRODUCTION: National Theatre D. Maria II, from an original concept by Mundo Perfeito
CO-PRODUCTION: O Espaço do Tempo, Maria Matos and Municipal Theatre

The show’s concept was supported by the Government of Portugal | DGArtes

A theatre and its backstage homage, the show is built from the memories of Cristina Vidal, who for almost 30 years has worked as a prompter (the person who blows the lines for actors who forget the text) at the National Theatre D. Maria II, in Lisbon. This shadow character is on the stage for the first time, accompanied by five actors. In a ruined theatre simulated set, with weeds growing in the middle of the boards, she appears with text in hand, blowing the lines to the cast. It is through them, the performers, that Vidal recounts her trajectory and the history of the theatre itself. Guardian of an activity on the brink of extinction, she calls real and fictional memories, mixing the offstage stories, ghosts of artists who have been there and classic dramaturgy, such as texts by Chekhov, Racine and Molière.

Actor, director and playwright, Tiago Rodrigues approaches the theatre as an assembly: a place to meet and share ideas. He became famous for making shows transiting between reality and fantasy, filled with great poetic and thought sophistication. Still as a student, in 1997, he worked with the tg STAN group and, in 2003, he co-founded the Mundo Perfeito group with Magda Bizarro, in which he created and presented about 30 shows in more than 20 countries. He was also a theatre teacher at institutions such as the Belgian dance school PARTS, directed by choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, the Swiss school of performing arts Manufacture and the international project École des Maîtres. Parallel to his work in theatre, he wrote screenplays for films and TV series, articles, poetry and essays. Some of his most prominent works are By Heart, Antônio and Cleopatra, Bovary, Como Ela Morre and Sopro, which debuted at Festival d’Avignon 2017. In 2018, he won the XV Europa Realidades Teatrais Award. In the same year, he received the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government, and recently received the 2019 Pessoa Award. Since 2015, Rodrigues has been the artistic director of the National Theatre D. Maria II, one of the main theatres in Europe.

CRITICS

Blow is Tiago Rodrigues signature of a conceptual and at the same time deeply emotional show. A vibrant tribute to the theatre and those who are part of it.

ETIENNE SORIN, Le Figaro

This sometimes comical sway between the creature behind the scenes and the chatty playwright (of whom she frequently mocks), plus the virtuosity that mixes with the tales of her career, is what gives Blow a huge delicacy and it gives us the impression of being part of it, of never being left out of that evident complicity that bonds characters and actors: in short, we all breath the same. Excerpts from plays in which Vidal had to intervene come up at the center of the speech. Classics from the repertoire such as, Three Sisters, The Miser or Bérénice, work our memory increasing the emotion of the experience. Tiago Rodrigues revives these “blowing creatures”, centuries old, through us and with us, with such grace and intelligence that make Blow an unforgettable work.

ELISABETH FRANCK-DUMAS, Libération

TECHNICAL SHEET

TEXT AND PERFORMANCE: Tiago Rodrigues
WITH: Beatriz Maia, Cristina Vidal, Isabel Abreu, Marco Mendonça, Romeu Costa and Sara Barros Leitão
ORIGINAL CAST: Beatriz Brás, Cristina Vidal, Isabel Abreu, João Pedro Vaz, Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz
SET AND LIGHTING DESIGN: Thomas Walgrave
COSTUMES: Aldina Jesus
SOUND DESIGN: Pedro Costa
DIRECTION ASSISTANT: Catarina Rôlo Salgueiro
LIGHTING TECHNICIAN: Daniel Varela
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Rita Forjaz
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Joana Costa Santos
PRODUCTION: National Theatre D. Maria II
CO-PRODUCTION: ExtraPôle Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre de la Bastille, La Criée Théâtre National de Marseille, Le Parvis Scène Nationale Tarbes Pyrénées, Festival Terres de Paroles Seine-Maritime – Normandie, Théâtre Garonne Scène Européenne and Viriato Theatre
SUPPORTED: by Onda
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Agnès Troly, Beatriz Maia, Carla Bolito, Carla Galvão, David Pinto, Filipa Matta, João Coelho, Julie Bordez, Magda Bizarro, Marco Mendonça, Mariana Magalhães, Paul Rondin, Romeu Costa, Sara Barros Leitão, Teresa Coutinho, team of Festival d’Avignon, technical team of Cloître des Carmes and ICA – Instituto do Cinema e Audiovisual

The result of a partnership between the American writer Dennis Cooper and the Franco-Austrian director Gisèle Vienne, the solo is an imaginary, strange and dark reconstruction of the crimes committed by serial killer Dean Corll (1939-1973), known as the Candy Man. Helped by teenagers David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, he tortured, raped and executed more than 20 boys in the city of Houston, Texas, in the mid-1970s. The play, performed by French ventriloquist Jonathan Capdevielle, shows David Brooks serving his life sentence. In the plot created by Cooper, Brooks learned the art of puppetry and in the prison, he presents, for a class of psychology students, a show in which he reconstructs the murders using the puppets. Violent and comical, the show examines the notions between the fantastic and the real and questions what happens when fantasy is truly lived.

Gisèle Vienne is a Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer and director. After graduating in Philosophy, she studied at the puppeteering school École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette. She works regularly with writer Dennis Cooper, musicians Peter Rehberg and Stephen O’Malley and light designer Patrick Riou, among other artists. Her works move between languages (performing arts, fine arts, cinema) to dissect human relations, the artistic and the religious. Vienne directed and choreographed various works with the collaboration of Dennis Cooper, including I Apologize (2004), Kindertotenlieder (2007), Jerk (2008), This Is How You Will Disappear (2010), The Pyre (2013), The Ventriloquists Convention (2015) e Crowd (2017). She also regularly exhibits her photographs and installations.

CRITICS

Our senses are confused by the horrifying and ridiculous sights before us, of hand puppets in a mix of human and animal forms committing grotesque acts of violence and sex.

GIANNI TRUZZI, Seattle Times

The changes in voice and skillful puppetry, between distance and cruelty, make a highly disturbing overlap of sounds and emotions. A surprising multi-instrumentalist, Jonathan Capdevielle incorporates a schizophrenic phenomenon as unreasonable as his subject.

ROSITA BOISSEAU, Le Monde

TECHNICAL SHEET

SOLO PERFORMANCE FOR:  A PUPPETEER
FROM A NOVEL OF: Dennis Cooper
DIRECTED BY: Gisèle Vienne
DRAMATURGY: Dennis Cooper
MUSIC: Peter Rehberg (original music) and El Mundo Frio of Corrupted
LIGHTS: Patrick Riou
PERFORMED BY AND CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH: Jonathan Capdevielle
RECORDED VOICES: Dennis Cooper and Paul P
STYLISME: Stephen O’Malley and Jean-Luc Verna
PUPPETS: Gisèle Vienne and Dorothéa Vienne Pollak
MAKEUP: Jean-Luc Verna and Rebecca Flores
COSTUMES: Dorothéa Vienne Polak, Marino Marchand and Babeth Martin
VENTRILOQUISM TEACHING: Michel Dejeneffe
WITH THE TECHNICAL TEAM: of the Quartz – Scène Nationale de Brest
TECHNICAL DIRECTION FOR THE CREATION: Nicolas Minssen
TEXT TRANSLATION FROM AMERICAN TO FRENCH: Emmelene Landon
DRAWINGS: Jean-Luc Verna, Courtesy Air de Paris
THANKS TO: Atelier de Création Radiophonique by France Culture, Philippe Langlois and Franck Smith. For Sophie Bissantz for the sound effects. Voices and sound effects were recorded at the Atelier de Création Radiophonique. Also, for Justin Bartlett, Nayland Blake, Alcinda Carreira-Marin, Florimon, Ludovic Poulet, Anne S – Villa Arson, Thomas Scimeca, Yury Smirnov, Scott Treleaven, the Air gallery in Paris, Tim / IRIS and Jean-Paul Vienne.
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION: Anne-Lise Gobin, Alix Sarrade, Camille Queval and Andrea Kerr
ADMINISTRATION: Etienne Hunsinger and Giovanna Rua
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: DACM
WITH THE COLLABORATION: of the Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest (Gisèle Vienne associate artist from 2007 to 2011)
CO-PRODUCTION: Le Quartz – Scène Nationale de Brest, Centre Chorégraphique National de Franche-Comté à Belfort dans le Cadre de l’Accueil-Studio and Parraga-Murcia Centre.

With the support of Conseil Général de l’Isère, Ville de Grenoble and the Ménagerie de Verre in the framework of studiolab
The company DACM is supported Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication – DRAC Grand Est, by Région Grand Est and by the City of Strasbourg.
The company DACM is regularly supported by Institut Français for its international touring.
Gisèle Vienne is associated artist at the theater Nanterre-Amandiers from 2014, and at the Théâtre National de Bretagne.

After someone threw a hamburger and shouted a transphobic offense to Travis Alabanza in broad daylight on London’s Waterloo Bridge, and none of the passers-by said anything, they*, who defines himself as a non-binary person, became obsessed with hamburgers: how they are made, their texture and smell and how they travel through the air. This interactive solo is the climax of hir compulsion. Alabanza, one of the prominent trans voices in the UK, uses the audience to explore in a sharp and amiable way how trans bodies survive and how, after recovering from an act of violence, they can achieve their own complicity.

* Non-binary pronoun “they” replace the personal pronouns “she” or “he”. These are terms that do not delimit gender, since non-binary people do not identify themselves as feminine or masculine.

Travis Alabanza performs, writes and directs films in London. As one of the UK’s most prominent trans artistic voices, over the past four years Alabanza has initiated much of the public talks about the intersections between blackness, gender, trans visibility and class. Their work crosses means and forms, including performances carried out in venues such as Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, Southbank Centre, ICA, Lyric Hammersmith, Transmission Gallery and Royal Exchange Theatre, and presentations at festivals such as the Hamburg International Feminist Festival. The Guardian, Buzzfeed and Independent are some of the media that published their writings. Between 2017 and 2018, they starred in Chris Goode’s adaptation of Jubilee, released his first poetry book, Before I Step Outside (You Love Me) and was a resident artist at Tate Galleries. They recently performed in Ridiculous of Darkness (Gate Theatre) and I Wanted to Fuck up the System But None of My Friends Texted Back (Wellcome Collection / The Sick of the Fringe).

CRITICS

Although fragile, Alabanza is sassy and witty, feeding off the audience like a seasoned cabaret star and riding the unpredictability of the interactive format. They generate roars of laughter, but the angry and intelligent script is also underscored with the real pain of exclusion, of being boxed in, of being trapped in a world where sexual and racial violence is prevalent and, too often, tolerated.

MARK FISHER, The Guardian

One of the things the show does very smartly is to use the idea of theatre as a community to question how easily we become complicit in structures of oppression. We cannot succumb to bystander mentality – we must act, not just passively watch. As Alabanza puts it: “silence burns.”

LYN GARDNER, Edinburgh Festivals Magazine

TECHNICAL SHEET

CREATION AND PERFORMANCE: Travis Alabanza
DIRECTION: Sam Curtis Lindsay
SET AND COSTUMES DESIGN: Soutra Gilmour
ASSOCIATED DESIGNER: Isabella van Braeckel
LIGHTING DESIGN: Lee Curran & Lauren Woodhead
SOUND DESIGN: XANA
MOVEMENT: Nando Messias

The show was designed for the 14th edition of the documenta, held in 2017 between the cities of Kassel, home of the contemporary art exhibition, and Athens. Based on the themes raised by the exhibition – the decentralization of art, the concepts of centre and periphery, the role of the artist in a world in conflict -, the French Phia Ménard reflects on the identity and problems of Europe today, drawing a parallel between two cities: the German Kassel, in the European “rich north”, and the Greek Athens, immersed in crises. Onstage, dressed as a futuristic Greek goddess, she begins to build a structure made entirely of cardboard, simple and fragile. It goes back to the Marshall Plan (which intended to rebuild post-war Europe), making repetitive and robotic gestures in this effort to create a home for the continent and its homeless, its refugees.

French Phia Ménard studied modern dance, mime, acting and juggling. In 1998, along with Le Grain, she founded the Non Nova group, which seeks a new way of juggling through the scenic and dramaturgical structure, and focuses on multidisciplinary works, with artists from different backgrounds. The project ICE. – Injonglabilité Complémentaire des Eléments, a research on the transformation, erosion and sublimation of materials, projected Ménard’s career in a new way, especially with P.P.P. (Position Parallèle au Plancher) staging, in 2008, in which she used ice as the element. The metamorphosis seen in the show became a symbol of her sexual transition, which occurred at the same time. After that, she toured with L’Après-Midi d’un Foehn and Vortex becoming an important voice on gender issues. In 2014, she received the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) from the French government and, in the following year, became an associate artist at the Théâtre Nouvelle GénéraYon – Centre DramaYque NaYonal Lyon and the Centre Chorégraphique NaYonal de Caen / Basse-Normandie. In 2017, Immoral Tales – Part 1: Mother House debuted in documenta 14. The project foresees two other parts, Temple Père (Father Temple) and La Rencontre Interdite (The Forbidden Encounter).

CRITICS

Phia Ménard’s whole brilliance, the architect of this work for the living body, is to keep distance from the spectacular without saving on the gesture. Casa Mãe is perhaps a crucial work in Ménard’s path, a militant and political act. A shout. Europe thus glorified in its rubble (re) turns into a possible horizon (…) Mother House is a modern tale.

PHILIPPE NOISETTE, Les Inrockuptibles

Fortunately, Phia Ménard’s sentences happen only in the presentation text, not in the play itself. Because all the beauty of this Mother House consists of seeing the artist in a queer warrior costume, miserable Athena, handling the set without knowing if she takes care of it or mistreats it (nor if the house protects or enclosures her): let images and time tell us. It leaves us completely free to decide whether these images evoke the construction-destruction of Europe, that of patriarchy or the way in which these two issues are linked.

ÈVE BEAUVALLET, Libération

TECHNICAL SHEET

DRAMATURGY AND STAGE DIRECTION: Phia Ménard e Jean-Luc Beaujault
PERFORMANCE AND SCENOGRAPHY: Phia Ménard
MUSIC AND SOUND SPACE: Ivan Roussel
STAGE MANAGERS: Jean-luc Beaujault, Pierre Blanchet e Rodolphe Thibaud
COSTUMES: Fabrice Ilia Leroy
TECHNICAL MANAGER: Olivier Gicquiaud
CO-DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION AND ADMINISTRATION: Claire Massonnet
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Clarisse Mérot
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Adrien Poulard
ASSISTANT TOURING COORDINATOR: Lara Cortesi
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Compagnie Non Nova
COPRODUCTION: documenta 14 – Kassel and Le Carré, Scène naYonale et Centre d’Art contemporain of Château-GonYer
Non Nova is subsidised by the French Ministry of Culture and CommunicaYon – DRAC des Pays de la Loire, Nantes City Council, the Conseil Régional des Pays de la Loire, the Conseil Départemental de Loire-AtlanYque, the InsYtut Français (France’s internaYonal cultural relaYons body) and the BNP Paribas FoundaYon.

The company is based in Nantes. The company Non Nova / Phia Ménard is currently associated arYst at Malraux scène naYonale Chambery Savoie, and the «TNB, Centre Européen Théâtral et Chorégraphique de Rennes ».
The project “Mother House” has received a special support from the InsYtut Français and the City of Nantes.

PHOTOS