Mime dance company Theatre Re is bringing its newest show Moments to Norwich this month. Cultivated caught up with artistic director and performer Guillaume Pigé.
Moments is, on the surface at least, about making a production. How do you make that relatable to an audience?
Yes! It definitely starts in that way and very gently we fall into the world of performance. One audience member likened it to when a magician talks you through how they perform a magic trick; by doing so they manage to make the magic more impressive, more real and by proxy more magical. This is what we are going for.
How has the show evolved? How do you prevent a show about making a show from getting lost in itself?
By collaborating with lots of great people. The show was devised in collaboration with several performers with whom we had worked with in the past: Charles Sandford, Andres Velasquez and Claudia Marciano. We also worked with a philosopher Graeme A Forbes, a dramaturg A C Smith, and had external advisors; the world-renowned Nola Rae and d/Deaf artist Jonny Cotsen. While they are all very familiar with our process, they were also able to bring the right level of challenges to enrich and elevate the work.
How much of the show is auto-biographical, and how much is fiction?
I would say that it starts off as something that is true to our current life’s experiences (at least for Katherine, Alex and myself) and as the level stylisation grows we move further into the world of the imagination.
Theatre Re is known for non-verbal shows, but the promotional video shows the performers wearing microphones. Should we expect something different?
Moments is different in the sense that it starts as a rehearsal room discussion before we seamlessly move towards the world of performance. So at first the microphones are there to support that part but then, as the play evolves into the piece, they also allow us to play with the textures of the voices as the piece unfolds. This is where our sound designer Benjamin Adams comes into play.
We do speak in all our pieces, it’s just that usually the music covers their sound. In Moments, the sounds of the voices comes in to add to the colours that the music is creating. Thanks to the microphones we were also able to use these voices as a dramaturgical tool, which we had never been able to do before and which was super exciting.
The piece has been in development for more than two years. How do you know when a piece is ‘ready’ or ‘finished’?
We don’t. I think our pieces always need to somehow change and transform in order to stay alive so in essence none of them will ever be finished – they will always be ‘in development’. But there is a moment (no pun intended) where the work has to meet an audience to carry on that journey.
What has it been like for Katherine and Alex to take on performance, rather than purely technical, roles?
I wouldn’t describe Katherine and Alex’s role as ‘purely technical’. There is an enormous amount of technicalities involved in their respective medium but fundamentally they are creatives. However, it is true that on this occasion their creativity had to be channelled through a different medium – acting! I don’t want to put words in their mouth but I would like to think that it has been a ‘truly exciting challenge’. During the show I think we can all feel when we have reached the point when we are back to doing what we are used to – I move, Katherine does the lighting and Alex does the music. But there is also genuine joy in coming together and playing in new and different ways. I really believe that making this piece together and with Benjy has allowed our creative bond to become stronger.
You’re originally from France but have been in the UK for 15 years, and performed internationally. How much does dance and mime transcend culture, and how much does it depend on it?
I cannot speak for the whole of the dance and mime world but in terms of our work, it is true that it manages to resonate with audiences in a deep and intuitive way across the globe. I think that there is something about the fact that we are all humans and deep down we are all the same, with the same fears, desires and dreams. With our work, we are trying to bring people together and develop empathy, and to not be bound by language to do that is incredibly powerful.
- Moments is at Norwich Theatre Playhouse from February 10-12 2025, tickets £19.50.
