Alexander Zeldin
LOVE
© LOVE, Alexander Zeldin © Nurith Wagner Strauss ©
© LOVE, Alexander Zeldin © Nurith Wagner Strauss ©
© LOVE, Alexander Zeldin © Nurith Wagner Strauss ©
Text and direction, Alexander Zeldin
With Amelda Brown, Naby Dakhli, Amelia Finnegan, Oliver Finnegan, Sandy Grierson, Joel MacCormack, Hind Swareldahab, Temi Wilkey, Grace Willoughby
Set design and costumes, Natasha Jenkins
Lights, Marc Williams
Sound, Josh Anio Grigg
Movements work, Marcin Rudy
Staging assistant, Elin Schofield
Costumes assistant, Caroline McCall
Re-creation of the setting, Ateliers Berthier – Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe (Paris)
The original text was published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama in 2016.
The show was created at the National Theatre, Londres, in December 2016, then remade at the Birmingham Repertory in January 2017.
Production A Zeldin Company
Co-production Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe
Original production National Theatre of Great Britain
Original co-production Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Co-directed by La Commune CDN d’Aubervilliers ; Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe (Paris) ; Festival d’Automne à Paris
With support from the city of Aubervilliers
Alexander Zeldin’s internationally-acclaimed piece follows an array of characters who find themselves at the mercy of the UK’s social care system. Love is the play’s common denominator, a last-ditch form of resistance in the long list of humiliations and spiral of decay.
A few days before Christmas, in a sheltered accommodation centre, eight characters waiting to be rehoused find themselves forced to cohabit. The different characters - a man and his elderly mother, a family expecting a baby, and two migrants in transit - become variations on the theme of the family and the links that we nourish with those dear to us. In the shared living space, arguments break out over space on the table, or access to the bathroom. Each of them tries to find their place, and negotiate a bit of breathing space, freedom or tenderness from the others. In a highly effective way, LOVE depicts the downward spiral of economic precariousness, and all the instability that goes with it. It shows, in a non-demonstrative way, what is at stake in these different trajectories, the deficiencies of the social care system and the negative effects of austerity politics. The minimalist dialogues, daily rituals for survival and silences, make LOVE a powerful piece of drama, from which none of the characters emerges unscathed.
In the same place
Carte Blanche Dream City
The multi-disciplinary Tunisian festival Dream City is moving to Aubervilliers at the joint invitation of the Festival d'Automne and La Commune, with the shared desire to make this area rustle, resonate and dream through a dozen creations by international performing and visual artists.
Selma & Sofiane Ouissi BIRD
Starting with ordinary everyday gestures such as feeding, living together and getting around, Sofiane Ouissi explores our relationship with birds. Passionate about encounters and the journeys they generate, this time he delves into the relationship with another species.
Visual arts: exhibitions and conversations
Artists Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle, Manthia Diawara, Michael Rakowitz & Robert Chase Heishmans will be in La Commune from 20 to 28 September to present five works and invite you to take part in two conversations.
The works of Nil Yalter will be on display in the public space of Aubervilliers.
Conference by Sophie Bessis Tunisia in the turmoil of populism
After a decade of chaotic but richly experienced democratic apprenticeship, Tunisia found itself plunged into a new cycle of its post-colonial history from 2021 onwards. From that date onwards, Kaïs Saïed, who was democratically elected in 2019, assumed all the powers, transforming a fledgling democracy into an autocracy.
Sammy Baloji Missa Utica
The first black bishop appointed by the Catholic Church should have settled in Utica, Tunisia, but never did. His story is the starting point for Sammy Baloji's work.
Winter Family H2-Hébron
Winter Family is an experimental music and documentary theatre duo founded by Israeli artist Ruth Rosenthal and French musician Xavier Klaine. They play minimal, obsessive, abrasive and political music. They created H2 Hebron, their 3rd show in 2018, a documentary piece in which the transcription of nearly 500 pages of testimonies, their translation, selection and reappropriation by Winter Family are the central element and the main dramaturgical material of the show.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Biokhraphia
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia et Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.
Rabih Mroué Riding on a cloud
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia and Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.