WAR & PEACE

a work-in-progress by in situ:

The Performers:
Dominique Fester
John Byrne
Chris Matthews
Tim Penton
Julie Kendall
Chloe Copping
Sophie Gilbert-Desvallons
Michael Michael
Sophie Topiol
Emma Bartlett
Rajan Rasaiah

The Texts:
Crossfire: Michel Azama
Hector’s Farewell (The Iliad): Homer
Caritas: Kathleen Raine
Marco Millions: Eugene O’Neill
Political Science: Randy Newman
Dulce et Decorum est: Wilfred Owen
A long way from Verona: Jane Gardam
Waiting for the Barbarians: Constantine Cavafy
Barbara: Jacques Prevert
Medley: Charles Hamilton Sorley
Mahatma Ghandi
Albert Einstein
Benjamin Franklin
Shema: Primo Levi

The Performance:
War & Peace has arisen out of a theatre course exploring Voice, Movement and Text. It is a
work-in-progress rather than a fully-blown performance, the idea being to give the performers,
some of whom have never been on stage before, the opportunity to perform in relatively relaxed
circumstances.

Each performer has chosen a text on the theme of War and Peace. The performance is a
‘cabaret’ of these different texts. Each one stands on its own - there’s no narrative connection
between them. We’ve tried to give each text it’s own particular con-text, created by the other
actors. This might take the form of imagery - for example animal imagery - ; vocal sound
created by the other performers, or just a certain atmosphere.
Here are a few of the techniques you’ll see in action.

EXTENDED VOICE:

This is a key aspect of all in situ: work. The voice in performance has tended to be confined to
the domains of singing and speech, which ignores a huge area of voice work, centred around
breathing, sighing, groaning, laughing, humming, shrieking, murmuring, and the multitude of
other human sounds that are neither speech nor singing. We’ve been exploring that area.
Moreover, we’ve also tried to stretch the capabilities of the speaking voice well beyond its usual
naturalistic confines, as you will doubtless hear!

CHOREOGRAPHIC THEATRE:

We’ve also tried to stretch our use of movement beyond naturalism and illustration, but without
being restricted , as in most dance, to following the rhythms of a piece of music. This has
allowed us to combine Movement, Voice and Text in what we hope will turn out to be
interesting ways. Much of the work stems from a deceptively simple exercise, created by the
Paris-based teacher, Enrique Pardo, in which the actors attempt to follow each others’
movements without looking at each other. This often creates an interesting environment in
which a text can be embedded.

War & Peace lasts approximately 1 hour.

There is no interval.

Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the building.

For information about in situ:’s theatre courses, residencies and performances,

please call us on: 01223 211451 ,
email us on: info@insitutheatre.co.uk ,
visit our website at www.insitutheatre.co.uk,
or write to us at: in situ: 23, Wycliffe Rd, Cambridge.CB1 3JD.