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French artists at this year’s Hat Fair

Wednesday 7 July 2010 , by Sian Thomas

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

Hat Fair worked with three French companies at this year’s festival as part of the work we are doing year round with ZEPA.

We presented Voyage en Bordure du Bord du Bout du monde by Trois Points Du Suspension. This show was very well received by the English audience. The translation made by the company and the slapstick was very finely tuned into the English sense of humour.

We worked with Acid Kostik to translate their show Stepology for the English audience. It was great to see many people joining in and participating with their show.

We worked with the University of Winchester (our ZEPA tier two partners) to find ten students who worked with Dot Comedy for one week to be a part of The Chain. This show erupts out of an everyday scene in the street. What ensues is five minutes of choreographed chaos. This experience gave the students a valuable experience of working in the busy environment of a street arts festival with a professional company.

Nettoyeur De Vent by Vo Compagnie is a show that we wanted to programe but had a difficulty with translation because it is interactive, with the central character improvising with the public over a period of five days. Between the artist and the festival we agreed on a French speaking English actor who could work with Didier Loiget (the Artistic Director and main actor with VO Compagnie) with the right degree of intensity and integrity to make the show work for the English audience. They made and rehearsed a new character that would act and translate for Didier at the same time.

Working with these three French companies increased Hat Fair understanding of programming international text based work. Certainly it has given a new perspective on programming for different public space and context for interaction.

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