LA PEPINIERE DU NOUVEAU MONDE

   Earlier in the year I got to work with theatre troupe, La Pepiniere du Nouveau Monde as they dived into rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet -the François-Victor Hugo translation.

The company, a strong ensemble of twenty plus actors, had just opened Two Gentlemen of Verona and were going straight into rehearsals for this second Shakespeare which will play in rep.

Over two intensive days we explored physical possibilities of character, relationship and action in order to better understand what the desire was of each character in a given moment. Using both texts and numerous physical exercises which might for example, employ different physical levels in the room, exciting discoveries were made between scene partners. Simple though an exercise of differing levels may seem, it creates moments of insight for the performers into the shifts of status between characters. The workshop opened up rich textual choices through expanding the company members’ physical territory in R&J. Fresh possibilities of relationship also occurred for the company in the ‘up and running’ Two Gentlemen of Verona. The actors were hugely generous of spirit and I found working with this company and these texts in French so invigorating. I couldn’t have felt more at home. Working physically with the juxtapositions and contradictions in the language that Shakespeare offers, (even though through translation the structure of the verse is no longer available to explore), gives enormous satisfaction and delight when a discovery lands!

Bertille Mirallie, (who shares the role of Juliet with Rosalie Bonneville), suggested I come work with the company and then she made it happen. Bertille created a glorious character based on Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and on flamingo for Flight Patterns, a show which premiered at the Bloomsbury Festival last autumn. I can’t wait to see her in this new role.

Romeo and Juliet runs 16th to 26th November at Théâtre Douze- Maurice Ravel, Paris. Here is the link for info and tickets. https://www.billetreduc.com/325365/evt.htm

Thank you to Artistic Director Maud Buquet Kandinsky, for bringing me in to work with the company. Thanks also to actor Laurent Brouillard for the photos- for his beautiful ability to delve into the scenes and also to capture some of the moments during our second day of exploration.