There isn’t any hope. You’re trapped. The whole sky has fallen on you, and all you can do about it is to shout. Don’t mistake me: I said “shout”: I did not say groan, whimper, complain. That, you cannot do. But you can shout aloud; you can get all those things said that you never thought you’d be able to say – or never even knew you had it in you to say. And you don’t say these things because it will do any good to say them: you know better than that. You say them for your own sake; you say them because you learn a lot from them.’ The chorus in: Jean Anouilh, Antigone

August 2010
REVIEW Flemish Theatre Festival – 1:Songs ****1/2
‘an overwhelming experience’
‘brilliantly composed theatre’

Download review (in English): KNACK_review Songs_English_Aug2010.pdf

MAY 2010
1: Songs was selected as one of the ten best performances of the year by the flemish Theater Festival jury 2010 en was consequently also chosen for the dutch Theaterfestival.


28 January 2010
Nicole Beutler has been nominated for the VSCD Mime prize with her performance 1: Songs. This prize will be handed out on the 12th of September in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam during the gala of next season’s Theaterfestival.

‘By turns rousing, seductive, serene, introspective, meditative and life-threateningly dangerous – with a rock ‘n’ roll attitude – this piece grabs the spectator by the short and curlies. Right from the beautiful opening scene – in which Beutler once again brings to life her fascination for the domain between the visible and the invisible, between presence and absence – the performance unfurls, revealing its true identity: a soul-stirring concert.’ (Jury report, VSCD Mime Prize)

the performance

1: Songs is a solo performance presented as a concert, a Liederkreis, an existential exercise for a singing body. Theatre maker and performer Sanja Mitrovic surrenders her voice to the intense words of tragic female figures from the history of theatre, figures such as Antigone, Medea and Gretchen. The suffering of the fictional heroines (and anti-heroines) repeatedly enters her very being as she sings, shouts and speaks – she is fragile, raw, calculating and emotional. But who is speaking here? And do the dramatic references from the past resonate in the here and now? The symbiosis of contemporary electronic music composed by Gary Shepherd and texts from the literary canon forms the basis for a subtle but loud scream against the instability and the incalculable incalculability of our existence.

As in her last works Lost is my quiet forever and Les Sylphides (2008), Nicole Beutler works with the tension between intense emotionality and cool calculation on the one hand and with the reflection on the history of theatre on the other hand. How do we look at emotions, what moves us and what doesn’t? And in how far does the past resonate through to the contemporary reality? These are issues that are at stake in Nicole Beutler’s work. Always in search for new forms, she now examines the working with existing texts. Music and text shall form the metaphorical basis for a subtle but loud scream against the instability and unpredictablility of existence.


the people involved

Concept / Choreography Nicole Beutler Performance Sanja Mitrovic Music Composition Gary Shepherd Text Advice / Artistic Assistance Magne van den Berg Dramaturgic Advice / Context Igor Dobricic Rehearsal Assistance Giulio d’Anna Costume Jessica Helbach Light Design Minna Tiikkainen Video design videomachas (Susanna Brenner/Helle Lyshoj) Technique Paul Schimmel or Martin Kaffarnik Music Advice Aleks Grujic Graphic Design Connie Nijman Publicity Eline Groeneweg nb / Production Josta Obbink nb / Management Janine Dijkmeijer Supported by PACT Zollverein Essen (residentie), Frascati Amsterdam (repetitieruimte) Sponsor XOVER Sound System K Array, Raul Mini Co-production Stichting nb, Beursschouwburg Brussel nb receives for the work of Nicole Beutler structural subsidy from the NFPK + Thanks to Felix Ritter (dramaturgisch advies), Maurits Musch, Alan Razzak (stem coaching), Sacha Zwart Voorspuij (Taxi), Steve Green (tekst) PR-Photography anjabeutler.de


press

“ Was this theatre, opera or can we even call it dance. The strange thing is that we can see through the trick, but we shiver when Sanja Mitrovic goes into action. With open eyes we fall into the trap of theatre. Nicole Beutler makes us aware of that with utmost subtlety in exchange for pure theatre-pleasure. “
Pieter T’Jonck, De Morgen, **** (4 stars)
songsReview-DeMorgen-engl.doc

“A cycle of songs, a journey through the history of theater and even a reflection on the power of acting. And all this in less than one hour.”
Mirjam van der Linden, Volkskrant, **** (4 stars)
songsReview-VK engl.doc


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video trailer 1: Songs

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press photo’s

(when used please mention the photographer)

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tourdata

₂₀₁₁
January 8 / AINSI, Maastricht (NL)
February 26 / De Lieve Vrouw, Amersfoort (NL)
March 11 / De Verbeelding, Purmerend (NL)
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December 8+9 / Theater Kikker, Utrecht (NL)
October 28+29 / Mousonturm, Frankfurt (DE)
October 18+19 / i-dans festival, Istanbul (TR)
August 22 / Lowlands Festival, Biddinghuizen (NL)
July 2+3 / I like to watch tool, Paradiso, Amsterdam – short version, 2x a night, in the frame of Julidans Festival (NL)
April 24 / Springdance Festival, Theater Kikker, Utrecht (NL)
March, 30 / Huis van Bourgondie, Maastricht (NL)
March 6 / nO new artists! Festival, KC Nona, Mechelen (BE)
January 19, 20+21 / Frascati, Amsterdam (NL)
January 15 / Chasse Theater, Breda (NL)
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December 2 / – Corrosia, Almere (NL)
November 19 / Lantaren/Venster, Rotterdam (NL)
November 13+14 / Beursschouwburg, Brussel (BE)
October 27, 28, 29 (premiere), 30+31 / Frascati, Amsterdam (NL)