The Norland Visual Theater (NVT), situated within the Lofoten Islands, at the north of Polar Circle,
is an international centre of creation, specialised in visual theatre that uses puppets and animated
forms. The NVT carries the creation of important creators among the most prestigious contemporary
visual theaters.
During 6 weeks of in situ creative work inside the territory of Lofoten Islands, the artistic
director Preben Faye-Schjøll will follow the creation within an artistic companionship relation.
The first show of our Nordic cycle Nordicité, is a quest. A wandering artist gives us an intimate testimony of her encounter with the North, and of her feeling of vertigo as she faces an immensity she cannot seize. Visual poem where video projection, music, theater and dance move alongside one another, Nordicité is a journey within myths and realities, and a reflection on our capacity to understand the voices of the North.
I was looking for the North. I was dreaming of a vast circumpolar project. So I walked the steps of the polar circle, I explored the land, I captured samples of humanity hoping they would help me translate the spirits of the North onstage. I met people, artists, silence, and immensity. I wanted to show the North I had imagined, the one I had encountered. Magnificent. Out of reach. But projects are like relationships. Some leave you marks like frostbites on your heart. This one challenged everything I knew, beyond what I expected. How would I be able to tell about the scar left on my soul by the silence of the tundra? How could I be truthful to a territory and people that were so vast and diverse, so complex and fragile? I am sharing an intimate testimony of the journey at the heart of my creative process which yearned for bringing the North to the South. A huge thank you to all the creative team without whom nothing would have been possible.
José Babin
a visual theatre company, explores fragmented spaces in which bodies, matter, sound, and light each compose a detail of a picture in constant movement. Each project is rooted in a territory that inspires the creators, and for this one, it is the earth as seen from above.
The Nordland Visual Theater (NVT), located in the Lofoten Islands at the north of polar circle, is an international centre of creation, specialised in visual theatre through the use of puppets and animated forms. It supports the most prestigious international artists of the contemporary visual theater scene.
More information on the show: theatreincline.ca/spectacle-et-creations/nordicite-eng/
Script: José Babin in collaboration with Pascal Brullemans
Stage direction: José Babin
Artistic counsellor (Quebec): Francine Alepin
Cast: José Babin, Mélanie Chouinard and Bryan Morneau
Original Cast: José Babin, Marc-André Goulet and Nadine Walsh
Scientific counsellor (Denmark): Daria Schwalbe
Set and video designer: Kalle Nio
Music creator: Guido Del Fabbro
Lights and technical director: Alexandra Dugal
Seamstress: Charline Guay
Set building: Atelier 303 and Alain Lavallée
Artistic counsellor (Norway): Bente Andersen
Scientific counsellor: Daria Schwalbe (Denmark)
Production director: Cynthia Bouchard-Gosselin and Alain Lavallée
Stage managers: Patrice Daigneault, Vincent Santes and Alain Lavallée
Script freely inspired by expeditions, questionnaire, and short stories of circumpolar authors:
Greenland : Pipaluk
Lykke Løgstrup - Sweden : Rasmus Lindberg - Iceland : Kári Tulinius - Norway : Tale
Næss Lysestøl - Finland : Maria Peura -
Canada : Lucy Tulugarjuk - Russia : Alexander Seryakov - Alaska :
Sean Asiqluq Topkok.
We wish to thank our partners the Cole Foundation and W.J. Jones.
This show has benefitted from creation residencies in the Nordland Visual Theatre and Maison des arts de
Laval.
Special thanks to Preben Faye-Schjøll, Geir-Ove Andersen, Jan Erik Skarby from the Nordland Visual
Theatre
Translator: Mathilde Perallat
Photos of the show: Geneviève Therrien
Here is an overview of three laboratories with author and staging director José Babin, performers Nadine Walsh and Marc-André Goulet, puppets and costumes conceptor Émilie Racine, collaborator Alain Lavallée and dramaturg Pascal Brullemans.
Écoutez un
extrait ambiant du laboratoire créatif
Listen to the author read an excerpt
Écoutez la chanson de Silie
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