HAWK
Re-Working this play for flexible touring
More details to be released, images and info for venues below
a tangled tale of love, care and abuse.
What does it take to train a raptor? Some can, some can't.
Brian is not the only one with hawk problems…
A hawk/human relationship is central to this piece. Bird and man battle between a longing for freedom and a need for restraint. Each creature is beautiful, strange and captivating. The wild bird exposes the tamer, clawing past truths into the present. Mutually dangerous and alien they are compelled to endure each other’s nurture, shame, abuse and love.
Hawk opens with Brian and his assistant Jamie doing a hawk display in the village. They meet a stranger who’s looking for some meaning in her life. Turns out that’s what they’re all looking for. And they find it - or not - through hawks.
“With ‘Hawk’, Gabrielle is putting her Transformation practice front-and-centre. No longer is it just a highly useful means of character development in rehearsal but instead it is the very medium through which the story of ‘Hawk’ is told. The constant shifting of the performers between human and animal states is not only a mesmerising thing to watch in and of itself but also raises questions of ethics and morality as the meaning we attach to certain actions changes as the performers transform before our eyes, e.g. the audience watch a hawk being bound suddenly transform into a woman being tied up. The subtle and specific work that Gabrielle inspires allows the performers to exist on this ‘knife-edge state' between human and hawk, giving the company ample opportunities to explore numerous topics within this rich seam of expression. To my knowledge, there is no one else, at least in the UK theatre scene, utilising such specific and committed Transformation work in this way.”
David Cumming, co- AD of Operation Mincemeat. Actor, Director, Theatre-Maker, Musician.
The actors in Hawk physically appear and move as raptors. In so doing they allow us a fresh sight of our own human behaviour. Hawk spins intensely personal stories around the raw and natural.
Background
Hawk is innovative in that it uses the actor-training techniques of Transformation and Imaginative Improvisation of the unique Copeau-St Denis-Blatchley-Clouzot-Moleta lineage as an intrinsic method for devising. Not merely does it inform the physical development of the actor into the wild creature, transformation into the human, and a richly imaginative physical world, but pivotally, it creates the interwoven stories of this piece.
Over a process of years we have spent time observing hawks and their world. The relationships between them and their austringers - the humans that work with them, train them, hunt with them, feed them, starve them, love them. We have looked at Harris hawks and goshawks, how they walk, how they fly, how they eat, how they mate, how they move. In transforming physically, both into hawks and the humans that come from them, we have developed a tangle of stories and images. We have discovered a hidden world of a rich and poetic vocabulary which belongs to this ancient way of life. We have been inspired too by brilliant people who have written inspiringly about equally brilliant raptors - William Shakespeare, Helen Macdonald, Gerald Summers, Barry Hines, St John of the Cross, T.H. White. In looking at what it is to be a hawk, we have found bigger questions, and no neat answers, about what it means to be human.
The show has emerged over a number of years, and we are grateful particularly for support fro development of the show and the company along the way from Arts Council England, RADA Festival, and School of Arts, University of Kent.
Information for Venues
We are currently developing the show with audience capacity restrictions in mind and are seeking UK Venue partners to build a tour for the show in Autumn 2022
Covid-19 aware The safety of our audiences and colleagues is always a priority and we are making every effort to make sure that our production is fully adaptable to different playing conditions, and we are happy to work with you to achieve this in your space, so that your audiences have a safe and extraordinary evening!
Important: Hawk is staged in the round! The exact configuration is fairly flexible, but we must have at least some audience on all four sides. The set is very simple and we can easily perform in ‘non-theatre’ spaces, which can make an interesting experience for your audiences, or in your specialist ‘in the round’ rigged theatre space, or a studio space with an adapted seating configuration. Playing area is flexible, but generally we are looking for a minimum of 6m x 6m. We can supply a lighting plan for your venue/festival rig (preferable) or tour a simpler lighting and sound set-up (rural touring style) ourselves.
The show lasts 60 minutes. We are happy to play the show twice in one evening. Audiences find that there is much to talk about after the show, they interpret it in different ways, and we are always happy to hold a Post-Show Q&A with the company by arrangement, and include the director and co-director where availability allows.
Age suitability: We recommend 14+. There are a couple of uses of strong language, and while there is nothing explicit, the piece touches on sensitive issues and adult themes, and there are some scenes which younger children might find unsettling.
Workshops: We can provide workshops for schools/universities/groups to accompany the show. For more details, see our training page.
Marketing Materials: We provide a marketing pack, an online trailer, A3 & A4 Posters & A5 Flyers, Press Release & Jpegs, and Radio/Press interviews where requested.
Themes and target audiences: This show will appeal to audiences who enjoy physical theatre, devised theatre, contemporary dance, new writing, and those interested in hawks, hawking and the natural world. The piece is never didactic and never judges, but the themes (love, control, abuse, loss, freedom, care, spirituality, identity, otherness) and imagery are rich and have struck a deep chord with audiences, who have related them to issues that are very current (immigration, Covid-19, identity, online grooming, #metoo).
The Company: Company Gabrielle Moleta is a new company and Hawk is our first piece for touring, but its members have worked with nationally and internationally renowned artists and companies. These include Shakespeare’s Globe, National Theatre, Willi Dorner Ensemble, Alexandra Bachzetsis, Rose Theatre Kingston, The Watermill Theatre, Jan Fabre, Cherub Company London, Theatre Re, Lea Tirabasso, among many others. In this company we have found a way of working that inspires us afresh, and none of us has quite worked like this before. We like it.
Comments from Audience feedback on Hawk:
“Fabulous acting and movement”
“Rich with meaning”
“An amazing journey in an hour.”
“Original and Bold”
“Wonderfully innovative and absorbing”
“It was visually superb! Engaging and confusing and disturbing but all in a good way!”
“All the performers were superb!”
“Wild and Visceral”
“Beautiful, subtle and engaging”
“Beautiful, detailed study on hawks, surreal funny moments. Great images.”
“The constant shifting between human and hawk was fascinating to watch.”
“You bring us, the audience, to the idea that freedom is not, in fact, our most valuable human attribute.”
“It really does fly”
Press for other work by company members
“powerful lines and relatable images will remain with the audience as they leave the theatre”, ★★★★ spyinthestalls (Tiger Under the Skin, New Public, Gabrielle Moleta, movement direction, )
“one of the most moving celebrations of Shakespeare I’ve experienced” The Guardian (Shakespeare Within the Abbey 2019, Shakespeare’s Globe, Gabrielle Moleta, movement director)