Ivan V Talijančić - Rose Bruford at Bridewell Interview

Rose Bruford College are presenting two responses to Greek theatre, the final shows from their MA and MFA actors before they embark on their professional careers. After the Fall is a promenade performance inspired by Euripides’ plays depicting the aftermath of Troy, created and performed by the actors with director Sarah Dowling, a long-time associate of Punchdrunk. Next, The Rest Will Be Familiar to You from Cinema is the English language premiere of the play by Martin Crimp. Drawing on Euripides’ The Phoenician Women, the show premiered in German at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in 2013, directed by Katie Mitchell. Both productions are being offered with affordable tickets at just £5.

Photo by Molly Miller

For an intimate audience of 36 who will promenade through the space and bear witness to the aftermath of Troy, After the Fall is inspired by Euripides’s Hecuba and Trojan Women, and Punchdrunk’s Burnt City. In Asphodel Meadows, a liminal space between heaven and hell, the souls of the captors and captured, victims and perpetrators emerge to play out the aftermath of the war.

The Rest Will Be Familiar to You from Cinema by Martin Crimp is an adaptation of Euripides’ The Phoenician Women told through a contemporary lens, depicting the fate of Oedipus’ wife Jocasta and their children. The multidisciplinary performance combines striking visuals and physicality with a haunting sonic environment to examine the cyclical nature of civil wars and the devastation that lingers in their wake. The production has been directed and designed by course leader Ivan V Talijančić, artistic co-director of the New York based multidisciplinary art group WaxFactory and a Usual Suspect at the New York Theatre Workshop.

We caught up with course leader and director Ivan V Talijančić to learn more.

Can you share what inspired Rose Bruford to bring shows connected by the theme of Greek tragedy to the stage?

As the Programme Director of Bruford's MA acting course, I started thinking early on in the year about "meaty" material for my postgraduate students to sink their teeth into for their final productions. In conversation with Martin Crimp last year, I'd discovered that he had adapted Euripides' rarely performed Phoenician Women over a decade ago and when I read the script over the summer, my mind was immediately flooded with vivid images to the point that I thought, "I have to stage this play". I had also invited Sarah Dowling to stage one of the two productions, and when she told me she was interested in devising a piece based on Trojan Women, it seemed obvious that the Greeks were in the cards.

How do you see the connection between devastation of ancient civilisations and modern day conflict?

I don't think many would disagree that, as a human race, we are experiencing watershed moments on many levels — societally, politically, environmentally. The issues that we are facing are increasingly more extreme, and we seem to be drifting farther and farther away from reaching consensus - instead, everything has become deeply polarized. Ancient Greeks believed in the power of theatre to exorcise the society's demons in a fictional space that was also the space of learning, in order to, hopefully, avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Fast-forwarding to the now, I hope that these plays will act as a mirror, for us to reflect on the issues that are afflicting us as humans in the present.

How do you aim to engage your audiences through the promenade format and multidisciplinary design? 

In After the Fall, the audiences will be able to roam around a variety of spaces within the building that houses the Bridewell theatre. As the director Sarah Dowling says, without a seat to anchor them the audience start to become an active ingredient in the live event. How close they get to the performer and what shape they form in the space around the theatrical vignettes is an unpredictable and potentially potent experience for audience and actors alike. In my production of The Rest Will Be Familiar to You from Cinema, the audience will be immersed into a richly layered environment of visuals, sound, movement and poetic language, which I believe will create a visceral theatrical experience.

Photo by Ivan V Talijančić 

You’re involved in both directing and designing The Rest Will Be Familiar to You from Cinema. How do you balance shaping the physical environment while guiding the actors through such a heavy text?

As a director and, more broadly, as a time-based artist, I have developed a distinct multidisciplinary practice over the past three decades, mainly thought a multitude of works I have developed around the world with my New York based performance group, WaxFactory in a variety of settings; anywhere from large-scale industrial spaces, to architectural locations, museums, theatres, even using entire cities as performance sites. Every work I create is in dialogue with the architecture, with the bodies, with design and the text. I don't give preferential treatment to any one of these elements, in the end, the audience's experience is shaped through the orchestration of all these elements.

What was the first piece of theatre that had a big impact on you?

There are quite a few - but since I have to choose one, I will pick the original German production of The Black Rider directed by the late great Bob Wilson, which I was fortunate enough to see on tour when it was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I was getting my MFA in Directing at Columbia University in New York and it was the first time I had seen one of Bob's piece, and it forever changed my perception of what was possible in theatre. I went on to assist Bob on several projects afterwards and I still think of him as one of my most important mentors.

What keeps you inspired when training and mentoring the next generation of MA and MFA performers?

Working at Bruford, and being in London - which, one could argue, is the theatre capital of the world, feels a bit like being a kid in a toy store. To be in institution that puts the art of theatremaking front and center, and having the privilege of bringing some of the leading professional practitioners to the college to train the students, and to witness their development as artists while on the course is truly exciting, and it continues to inspire me.

What do you hope audiences take away from After the Fall and The Rest Will Be Familiar to You from Cinema? 

I am thrilled for us to be able to share two distinctly different but equally exciting pieces of contemporary theatre with London audiences, and I hope they will be excited to discover these works and unique theatrical expressions they offer.

Bridewell Theatre, 14 Bride Ln, London EC4Y 8EQ
After the Fall 18 – 20 June | 18 & 19 7pm, matinees 19 & 20 2pm
The Rest Will Be Familiar to You from Cinema 25 – 27 June | 25 & 26 7pm, matinees 26 & 27 2pm
£5 (£2 concs) | sbf.org.uk