Focus on: Plutôt la Vie
Plutôt la Vie was founded in 2003 by Tim Licata, Ian Cameron and Clark Crystal, with a desire to create imaginative, visually driven theatre.
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Clowning was a part of each company member’s training and continues to be a part of their lives. They all work with Hearts&Minds, an arts-in-health organisation, as Clowndoctors and Elderflowers practitioners in Scotland. |
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As Tim explains, 'Plutôt la Vie' means 'Rather Life' or 'Above all, Life' and that is what theatre should be, full of Life...at its richest, funniest, or most devastating...’ A Clean Sweep, Plutôt la Vie's first production, was directed by Magdalena Schamberger with original music by Andrew Cruickshank. It is in the style of 'clown' but it is hoped that future productions will explore a range of styles. The common thread is imagined to be performances that are driven as much by non-verbal aspects: visual imagery, physicality, rhythm and sound; as by text.
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Both the development of A Clean Sweep and the full production which toured through Scotland were supported by the Scottish Arts Council. Initially developed for adults, Plutôt la Vie found that the show worked extremely well for children. Its best audience is a mixture of adults and kids.
The overall reaction to the show has been great. It went on to perform at the Edinburgh and Dublin Fringe Festivals 2005, Theatre of the World Festival in San Diego, Imaginate's Children's International Theatre Festival in Edinburgh and the Belfast Children's Festival 2006 |
Tim says, 'Performing at the Children's International Theatre Festival was wonderful. The large and mixed audiences, and their very vocal reactions, gave us a lot to play off of. We were happy to be part of an event which featured very high quality theatre for children and young people. We had a similar experience at the Belfast Children's Festival. I think the whole atmosphere of the festivals contributed to the audience reaction and involvement'.
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‘One definition I like is that, “a clown is someone who is looking for the love of the audience”’, says Tim.
The type of clowning in A Clean Sweep is probably quite different than most people's imagination of clowns. |
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‘We work more in 'theatrical clowning' and the idea of a 'personal clown'. This type of clowning has also been around for a long time. It is in the tradition of silent films, and was greatly developed by Jacques Lecoq at his Paris theatre school.’ |
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‘When people see this type of clowning, I think they immediately understand it. It can be extremely sensitive and touch on profound emotions. It exists in an immediate and intimate relationship between performers and live audiences. The audience's reactions are a big part of the performance and each performance is different because of this: you don't clown for an audience, you clown with them. Being aware of and using this as a performer is extremely important. When it works, it's great fun.’
A Clean Sweep will be performing at the Buddle Arts Centre in Newcastle in December 2006. The company has plans to tour the show in England as well festivals in Europe and South Africa in 2007 ‘so it looks like we will be sweeping for a while’. Plutôt la Vie plan to create their next production in 2007, the UK premiere of a play by a contemporary Danish playwright.
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Participate!
Plutôt la Vie’s Artistic Director Tim Licata teaches a clowning class open to the public, at Dance Base, Edinburgh. | |