Fragile
Year: 2013
Credits:
Performed by and created in collaboration with:
Lucas Bergandi (tightwire)
Stephanie McMann
Beth Powlesland;
Laura Smith & Mark Pieklo (trampoline)
and David Vossen
The set has been created in collaboration with French scenographer Fabrice Deperrois of Les Plastiqueurs and Tilted’s production manager Jeremy Cox with structural engineering by Jason Tucker of Maltbury Staging.
Sound design: Oliver Thomas.
Choreography, Direction & Concept:
Maresa von Stockert
Funders and Supporters:
.
Fragile was commissioned by PASS – Circus Channel, an European network between UK and France, with La Brèche, Pôle National des Arts du Cirque de Base-Normandie (Cherbourg – Octeville) and SeaChange Arts, an Arts Development and Promotion Agency (Great Yarmouth) acting as co-producers together with Atelier 231, Centre National des Arts de la Rue and Viva Cité Festival (Sotteville-les-Rouen). Fragile also received a Creation aid by the IN SITU network, in the frame of the META project. The project has been funded with support from the European Commission (DGEAC – Culture programme).
Fragile unfolds on a large-scale transformative set that depicts a derelict building’s rooftop and subtly integrates a tightwire and a trampoline that tilts. The choreography seamlessly combines contemporary circus, dance and physical theatre as it exposes tender as well as dysfunctional relationships that become entwined in this rooftop paradise of green discomfort and warped realities.
Fragile was on an extensive national and international tour from May until September 2013 – 32 performances in 3 different countries with audiences reaching altogether approximately 18,000 people. The tour included performances at Asteroid Festival, Copenhagen, DK; Escapades d’été, Cherbourg, FR; Festival Z’Amis, Soirs d’été, Caen, FR; Festival Sortie de bains, Granville, FR; Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, London, UK; Mintfest, Kendal Norfolk and Norwich Festival; Salisbury International Arts Festival, UK; Out There Festival, Great Yarmouth, UK; Regneville sur mer, FR; Stockton International Riverside Festival, UK; Viva Cité Festival, FR.
Running time: 80 minutes
“a carpet of moss covers part of the set, greenery invites itself and takes over. As if reacting to the sylvan properties of the place, the performers hang upside down, in one movement defying gravity and classical perspectives, and at the same time the conventions of human relationships.”
Antoine Boyer, Sylvain Marchand, ZEPA2 article
“…The hidden trampoline in the rooftop set is a delight and Laura Smith and Mark Piekloʼs expertly choreographed jumps and twists were poetry to watch.”
James Goffin, Norwich Evening News
Bottom line photo credits left to right: David Morris