Living (try-out)

Behind the façades

Since the opening performance at our Comedy Festival in 2004, Tristero has presented no less than five sold-out series of Abigail’s Party, a bittersweet comedy by the filmmaker and playwright Mike Leigh. Quite a crucial element in this production was the set by Emma Denis, which was a careful reconstruction of a flat in the style of the early seventies, including the tinkle of ice cubes for the gin and tonic and a Demis Roussos  record on the turntable.

This set – which is more like an installation in the style of Guillaume Bijl – is the starting point for Living. The characters in Abigail’s Party evolve in this very same space. However, whereas in Abigail’s Party they are narrow-minded conformists who can never be themselves, in Living they are given the opportunity to be just this. What is the story behind their façades? For the first time Tristero is creating a performance without words. The focus is on movement and atmosphere – for which Tristero invited the dance dramaturge Myriam Van Imschoot to be its coach.