Marcello Magni is a pioneer of physical theatre. He was born in Bergamo, Italy and graduated from the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris in the 1980s where he studied alongside some of the world’s leading theatre-makers. He went on to become a founding member of the internationally renowned theatre company Complicité, and this September, Marcello will be taking on the role of Movement Director on a brand new production opening at the Belgrade Theatre.
Faithful Ruslan – The Story of a Guard Dog will be staged to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, based on the real events that followed the death of Josef Stalin and told from the point of view of a loyal and trusting guard dog. In this interview, Marcello discusses how he will create a ‘physical language’ for the production.
What is your role on this production?
In this production I collaborate with Helena (Kaut Howson, director) to give the production a physical aspect. I’ve been working with Complicité a long time and in our company, the chorus was the element that characterised our style so the company collectively could tell a story.
How will you use movement to tell the story of Faithful Ruslan?
The story is about a dog so we have to find a physicality for the performance. We don’t have puppets but we have a group of thirteen performers who will have to be masters, prisoners and dogs so physically it will be my role to give them a language through which they can transform. They will not change costumes - they will simply shift position and become one and the other and the other.
What do you want audiences to experience when they watch this production?
That’s a big question because the story is the centre of what we want them to be touched by. For me, it’s a story of a dog and maybe a man that in Russia lost his direction, so it is a story that belongs to anyone. It could be to a student, to a worker, to a father, to a mother. At one moment in their life something changes around them and all their beliefs collapse. I don’t know if I can make a comparison with one moment in England – there were the miners and some kind of society collapsed then. Those poor people that were miners had to deal with a new future and didn’t know what to do. And now we can say that with Brexit – what will England be after Brexit? It could be something that is fantastic or it could be something that presents unknowns that create a loss of beliefs. Also I feel that the story is about the relationship between human beings and power. How do we deal with power? This dog believes so much in his leader and [it questions] do we need that?
How will you go about developing this physical language in order to tell the story through the eyes of a dog?
I will provoke them with many games, in order to create an ensemble, to create a team. Like in a football team, you need to have [a sense of] ‘I know that my friend is going to go there.’ So, it’s not just a choreography, it’s more an intuition with each other for what will happen next, so they can feel free and not rigidly do ‘two steps to the left and one jump to the right.’ It’s something more organic, like in sports. At the same time I will give them a language that again belongs to a school where I studied in Paris in the 80s called Jacques Lecoq, and it’s the chorus or ‘the mob’ or ‘the shoal of fishes.’ We don’t know why but at one moment at the fishes will all turn left or turn right and it’s fantastic to watch.
How will movement be used to create different locations on stage?
I think this show will have a magical, transforming spirit – so not the classic show where everything is static. The sense is that the chorus could transform the stage. Rooms can appear and disappear, and the past of Ruslan could come on stage. In that second we would believe that he is young again, and see him dealing with a master that is depressed. So that capacity for transformation is one that is very magical. It is a story set in Siberia, in a landscape where there is nothing, but one where buildings will suddenly appear, not because a set comes in but because the chorus can be a thousand things.
Faithful Ruslan – The Story of a Guard Dog runs at the Belgrade Theatre from Saturday 2 – Saturday 16 Sept. Tickets are available now priced from £13 by calling the Belgrade Box Office team on 024 7655 3055 or online at www.belgrade.co.uk.
Marcello Magni is a pioneer of physical theatre. He was born in Bergamo, Italy and graduated from the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris in the 1980s where he studied alongside some of the world’s leading theatre-makers. He went on to become a founding member of the internationally renowned theatre company Complicité, and this September, Marcello will be taking on the role of Movement Director on a brand new production opening at the Belgrade Theatre.
Faithful Ruslan – The Story of a Guard Dog will be staged to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, based on the real events that followed the death of Josef Stalin and told from the point of view of a loyal and trusting guard dog. In this interview, Marcello discusses how he will create a ‘physical language’ for the production.
What is your role on this production?
In this production I collaborate with Helena (Kaut Howson, director) to give the production a physical aspect. I’ve been working with Complicité a long time and in our company, the chorus was the element that characterised our style so the company collectively could tell a story.
How will you use movement to tell the story of Faithful Ruslan?
The story is about a dog so we have to find a physicality for the performance. We don’t have puppets but we have a group of thirteen performers who will have to be masters, prisoners and dogs so physically it will be my role to give them a language through which they can transform. They will not change costumes - they will simply shift position and become one and the other and the other.
What do you want audiences to experience when they watch this production?
That’s a big question because the story is the centre of what we want them to be touched by. For me, it’s a story of a dog and maybe a man that in Russia lost his direction, so it is a story that belongs to anyone. It could be to a student, to a worker, to a father, to a mother. At one moment in their life something changes around them and all their beliefs collapse. I don’t know if I can make a comparison with one moment in England – there were the miners and some kind of society collapsed then. Those poor people that were miners had to deal with a new future and didn’t know what to do. And now we can say that with Brexit – what will England be after Brexit? It could be something that is fantastic or it could be something that presents unknowns that create a loss of beliefs. Also I feel that the story is about the relationship between human beings and power. How do we deal with power? This dog believes so much in his leader and [it questions] do we need that?
How will you go about developing this physical language in order to tell the story through the eyes of a dog?
I will provoke them with many games, in order to create an ensemble, to create a team. Like in a football team, you need to have [a sense of] ‘I know that my friend is going to go there.’ So, it’s not just a choreography, it’s more an intuition with each other for what will happen next, so they can feel free and not rigidly do ‘two steps to the left and one jump to the right.’ It’s something more organic, like in sports. At the same time I will give them a language that again belongs to a school where I studied in Paris in the 80s called Jacques Lecoq, and it’s the chorus or ‘the mob’ or ‘the shoal of fishes.’ We don’t know why but at one moment at the fishes will all turn left or turn right and it’s fantastic to watch.
How will movement be used to create different locations on stage?
I think this show will have a magical, transforming spirit – so not the classic show where everything is static. The sense is that the chorus could transform the stage. Rooms can appear and disappear, and the past of Ruslan could come on stage. In that second we would believe that he is young again, and see him dealing with a master that is depressed. So that capacity for transformation is one that is very magical. It is a story set in Siberia, in a landscape where there is nothing, but one where buildings will suddenly appear, not because a set comes in but because the chorus can be a thousand things.
Faithful Ruslan – The Story of a Guard Dog runs at the Belgrade Theatre from Saturday 2 – Saturday 16 Sept. Tickets are available now priced from £13 by calling the Belgrade Box Office team on 024 7655 3055 or online at www.belgrade.co.uk.