When Words Are Not Enough: seeking a dramaturg/writer

04 Mar When Words Are Not Enough: seeking a dramaturg/writer

This position is from 2020 and now closed.

Following on from the success of The Exploded Circus, Dior Dream Parade and Lifted, Mimbre’s When Words Are Not Enough (working title) is a new indoor show continuing the collaboration between award-winning designer Loren Elstein, director Lina Johansson and Mimbre’s all-female cast.

Mimbre’s work could be described as a constant exploration of how we can use acrobatics, circus and physicality to tell stories. Sometimes those stories are very subtle, giving more of an atmosphere or a feeling. Sometimes they are more driven by narrative. But the stories are nearly always told without words.

For the next development stage of our new production we are interested in further developing this physical language with a dramaturg/writer. We would still like to work without words as far as we can – allowing the strength of a visual language to drive the connection with the audience – but we’d like to work in collaboration with a dramaturg/writer to help us hone in on what it is we are saying through that physical language, to explore the relation between the themes and physicality more. How to deliver a message without preaching? How to tell a story with several layers, without using words? How to use our physicality to bridge divides?

Details

Working with a team of performers who are all women and have mixed cultural heritage, we would ideally like a dramaturg/writer who identifies as a woman of colour to join us for this role.

– 2 or 3 days during w/c 16th March 2020 (dates flexible) as part of our next Research & Development rehearsals.

– Fee £200 a day (inclusive of travel).

– Location: Dalston, London.

Depending on direction and funding for the full production, we are likely to be looking at further dates during autumn/winter 2020.

If you’re interested in this opportunity, please email Lina on lina@mimbre.co.uk as soon as possible with your CV and a short email explaining why you’d like to work with us on this project. If you have any questions, or to hear more about Mimbre’s work, please contact Lina on lina@mimbre.co.uk or call +44 (0)7801 325415.

About When Words Are Not Enough

In a physical performance full of humour, texture and depth, five women use their bodies, strength and agility to reflect on the world around them – on the divisions that disjoint us and on the humanity we all share. Weaving extravagant physical choreographies together with intimate and beautiful moments, the acrobats create visual poetry through the timeless language of circus, pulling the audience into a contemporary show celebrating human connections, unity and resistance.

Devised with an outstanding team of female performers from diverse backgrounds, the show uses the purity of floor-based acrobatics through a series of sketches to play with the strong imagery and inherent expression of one human supporting another. Bypassing empty words; breaking bigger issues down to a personal, visual, visceral level. A group of women reaching to the sky, but with one set of feet still planted firmly on the ground. Exploring the fine line between the perfect balance of a human pyramid, or broken bodies left behind on the floor.

Thoughts from the Director Lina Johansson

“We want explore the essence of belonging through strong visual and physically daring imagery. Pulling the audience in through the visceral experience of seeing inter-connected bodies. The physicality will have its own identity, but will also carry symbolism of where we choose to go as communities and as a society. Using performance as a prism to bring bigger issues down to a personal level, where they can be grappled with, made smaller, make sense and mixed with humour as a way to connect, as a release and as a way to be defiant. Using physical and visual expressions that transcend languages, borders, nationalities and circus as a representation of risk and trust.

“Right now it matters more than ever who gets to present their stories on stage, and When Words Are Not Enough is being devised with a cast of five women of different ethnicities, ages and nationalities. The creation will be an interrogation of the issues important to all of us, some of us, or one of us. A show that is written with our bodies as the world around us keeps spinning.

“Using the unknown to our advantage makes this an exciting show to make. Knowing the beauty we can create, the emotions we can stir, but also questioning what provocation we might provide? Can we leave our audiences with the feeling of having found new friends and with a smile on their lips, but also with questions in their heads to take home? How do we not only break the fourth wall, but allow a genuine meeting to take place between audience and performers? How do we let the audience question us? How can we celebrate everyone’s differences, but resist being divided? How do we stay physical in our celebration at the same time as honest in our humanity?”