Glej,
Politics in the Room

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Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas are back, the receivers of Forced Entertainment Award and beloved by the festival audiences worldwide. Their artistic expression can be summed into "Political is personal and personal is political." War in Syria, global ecological catastrophe, migrations within the Fortress Europe. There is no conflict big enough not to be able to be transformed into a struggle between two performers. Bertrand and Nasi address divisions, love, frustration, hatred and reconciliation with humor. On the stage, we can see all the paradoxes of political crisis that we are living, as they ask us how we can overcome them. They are known as one of the most exciting performers of their generation in Europe, who are redefining what political theatre means. 

After the successful workshop Bertrand and Nasi prepared as a part of TRIGGER 2021 programme, they are returning to Slovenia once again in May 2023 to perform at the festival CROSSINGS in Maribor and for the extended version of the workshop titled Politics in the Room in Ljubljana. 

The workshop will take place in English on May 14th and May 15th 2023 between 10:00 and 14:00 at Slovenian Theatre Institute at Mestni trg 17 in Ljubljana.

The two-day workshop will take place right after their performance at the 6th international festival of independent performing arts CROSSINGS where they will perform THE END - the reminder and a celebration of our own mortality and that of everything around us. More about the performance and the festival CROSSINGS.

We are happy that we are bringing them again to Ljubljana within our TRIGGER international platform. This time also in cooperation with the Slovenian Theatre Institute. TRIGGER is developed in partnership with Moment, Bunker, City of Women, Pekinpah, Mladinsko Theatre and Maska (The New Post Office programme).

About the workshop

Workshop around performances PALMYRA & ONE by Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas.

Total Theatre Award And Forced Entertainement Award winners Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas, creators and performers of EUROHOUSE, PALMYRA and ONE, have developed a strong reputation in the UK for making original political theatre.

In this practical workshop based on their own practice, Bert and Nasi explore ideas around disagreement, frustration, hatred and reconciliation – particularly as these relate to contemporary society – using the stage as a space for artistic and political negotiation. How do we prioritize simplicity when talking about very complex matters? How do you inject feeling into facts?

There will be some discussions, some improvisation and some loud music (probably ABBA). All with a view to giving an insight in how Bertrand and Nasi make their work.

Objective/s

• Understanding how to make a political situation live in a room between 2 or 3 people.
• Making use of metaphors in order to make the situation you are exploring more understandable.
• Each group will be asked to present in turn the result of their research.

Outline of exercises

• Using strenuous physical exercises as a way of embodying a political struggle or injustice.
• Finding the clowns for each situation played. (e.g: who is the oppressed - who is the oppressor).
• Creating contrasts on stage and between two people. Drawing on from that, creating a conflict in
  the room.
• Once the conflict is found, making the audience feel complicit and take an active part.

How to apply for the workshop

Two-day workshop is in English and will take place on May 14th and May 15th 2023 between 10:00 and 14:00 at Slovenian Theatre Institute at Mestni trg 17 in Ljubljana.

Applications for the workshop are compulsory and we are collecting them via the following form until May 7th or until the places are filled. 

The fee for the workshop is 40 Euros. Number of places is limited. Registrations are open on a first come first serve basis but no later than May 7th 2023. Your registration is valid upon paying the bill for the fee (you will receive the invoice via e-mail after you submit the application). More information: info@glej.si.

About the mentors

Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas (France/UK) are the creators of a trilogy of work on contemporary questions: EUROHOUSE (2016), PALMYRA (2017) and ONE (2019). 

Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas have developed a strong reputation worldwide for making original, political theatre. Creating work in an age of austerity, and about austerity, our work is stripped right back and sits somewhere between live art and theatre. Using humour and the dynamics of our onstage relationship, we undercut and explore the darker aspects of contemporary subjects in work that questions both our own – and the audience’s – role as ‘active’ spectators in global conflicts. Some of our core principles involve: being aggressively simple, a strong sense of humour and play, an aim to push, provoke, search, excite and incite; never being boring without being thrilling; never being thrilling for the sake of a thrill; everything understood and everything mapped out.

This trilogy of work tackles complex political or social questions – Greece’s relationship with the EU; the Syrian crisis; the rise of the ultra right – into an accessible, immediate form. Using humour and the dynamics of their onstage relationship, Bert and Nasi undercut and explore the darker aspects of contemporary subjects in work questions both their own – and the audience’s – role as ‘active' spectators in global conflicts. 

More recently, Bert and Nasi presented THE END, a dance piece exploring the breakdown of their own working relationship set against the backdrop of an imminent climate catastrophe. 

Produced by Farnham Maltings and associate artists with MAYK, their shows have been presented across the world, from London to Madrid, Berlin to Sarajevo, Brazil, Canada and Australia and the US. 

In the media

Essential Drama: Bertrand and Nasi.  

The extended two day workshop is a part of the TRIGGER educational program 2023. 

It will take place on May 14th & May 15th between 10:00 and 14:00 at Slovenian Theatre Institute at Mestni trg 17 in Ljubljana. Apply here.

TRIGGER is developed in partnership with Moment, Bunker, City of Women, Pekinpah, Mladinsko Theatre and Maska (The New Post Office programme).

Archive

The one day workshop Politics in the Room was a part of the TRIGGER 2021 programme on September 6th 2021.

TRIGGER 2021 was a part of a partnership network Platform Center for Creativity. Platform Center for Creativity is co-financed by European Union from European Regional Development Fund and by Republic of Slovenia.

TRIGGER 2021 platform was also supported by Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Culture and Municipality of Ljubljana.