Q & A with Mark Lawes from Theatre Junction Grand.
28th of March 2012
Question and answer with the artistic director of Theatre Junction Grand.
- Oliver Koomsatira
Lucy Lost Her Heart
Credit : James Stangroom
Usine C is presenting Lucy Lost Her Heart from the 28th to the 30th of March. Here are a few questions answered by its creator, Mark Lawes.
Oliver Koomsatira : What inspired you to start an artistically diverse company like Theatre Junction Grand?
Mark Lawes : I’m interested in crossing the boundaries between theatre, dance, music, and visual art to create a multiple world on stage. Multiplicity is one of the key philosophical ideas in my work. I want to step outside of monolithic or homogenous structures. The diverse characteristics of the performers themselves, helps me to do this, particularly when the performer is operating outside of his or her discipline. There is a transparency and fragility that appears as a result of this investigation.
Oliver Koomsatira : You say "Theatre is the art of meeting, an opportunity to be together, to dream, to think collectively, to imagine a future for as individuals, and our society, a celebration of life." How did you come to this point of view? How important has it become in your life?
Mark Lawes : The work that I create with the company of artists is born out of a collective research and engagement. The community and the individuals of the artistic team are key points of departure for my work. This micro-community that we create, by its very nature, provokes questions about what it means to invent a future together.
We are interested in what it means to be alive, to live life, and to ask the spectator what this means. We attempt to step outside of mere functions, existence, survival, and dive into what life has to offer – the shit and roses.
Oliver Koomsatira : You ask questions about violence of the past that is anchored in the unconsciousness, how real do you believe this is in day to day life, and how are you translating this onto the stage in Lucy Lost Her Heart?
Mark Lawes : The violence of the past is real and manifests itself in the present both consciously and unconsciously. The violent colonization of the west is only 3 generations old. My grandfather, for example, was born in a covered wagon as he came up from Oregon to homestead in Alberta. The government of Canada was able to give pioneers “free” land once the 30 million buffalo were massacred, systematically destroying the way of life for First Nations, and making way for the “cultivation” of the land and of the culture. I directly benefited from this colonization, and yet I was not responsible for it. What do I do with that? In Lucy the characters are lost, the ghosts of the past haunt them, AND dance with them. They need to climb over a pile of historical (and physical) garbage to have a view on what the future might be. In the West there is a tendency to try to erase history, bulldoze it, and build something new in the naive hope that it will be better.
Oliver Koomsatira : What or who are your inspirations?
Mark Lawes : The work of Winnipeg artist Marcel Dzama has been inspirational and has formed a part of our dramaturgical material. Also specific locations in Alberta have provided concrete material our trilogy on Death Desire and the West, including towns of Lac La Biche for On the Side of the Road and Wayne for Lucy Lost Her Heart.
Oliver Koomsatira : Do you believe Lucy Lost Her Heart is an accessible show for non-theatre or non-dance spectators?
Mark Lawes : I don’t make work specifically for theatre or dance spectators. Anyone who is interested in actively engaging in the world around them will find something of interest in our work. I believe that the spectator needs to be asked to interpret the world through their own eyes, and this is what our work allows and demands.
Oliver Koomsatira : What's coming up for you and/or Theatre Junction Grand?
Mark Lawes : I have been selected as a Laureate of the City of Paris and the French Institute to begin the creation of a new work at Les Récollets in Paris. This work will premiere in Calgary in March 2013.
Oliver Koomsatira : Any thoughts you'd like to share with the Montreal public?
Mark Lawes : For me Montreal is the cultural capital of Canada and it is a dream to play here and especially at Usine C which has such strong artistic program. We perform our work in French and English and I look forward to sharing our work with the Francophone and Anglophone public side by side.
For more information about Lucy Lost Her Heart, visit Usine C's website:
http://www.usine-c.com/fr/11-lucy-lost-her-heart.html
Snippets of Lucy Lost Her Heart
Oliver Koomsatira : What inspired you to start an artistically diverse company like Theatre Junction Grand?
Mark Lawes : I’m interested in crossing the boundaries between theatre, dance, music, and visual art to create a multiple world on stage. Multiplicity is one of the key philosophical ideas in my work. I want to step outside of monolithic or homogenous structures. The diverse characteristics of the performers themselves, helps me to do this, particularly when the performer is operating outside of his or her discipline. There is a transparency and fragility that appears as a result of this investigation.
Oliver Koomsatira : You say "Theatre is the art of meeting, an opportunity to be together, to dream, to think collectively, to imagine a future for as individuals, and our society, a celebration of life." How did you come to this point of view? How important has it become in your life?
Mark Lawes : The work that I create with the company of artists is born out of a collective research and engagement. The community and the individuals of the artistic team are key points of departure for my work. This micro-community that we create, by its very nature, provokes questions about what it means to invent a future together.
We are interested in what it means to be alive, to live life, and to ask the spectator what this means. We attempt to step outside of mere functions, existence, survival, and dive into what life has to offer – the shit and roses.
Oliver Koomsatira : You ask questions about violence of the past that is anchored in the unconsciousness, how real do you believe this is in day to day life, and how are you translating this onto the stage in Lucy Lost Her Heart?
Mark Lawes : The violence of the past is real and manifests itself in the present both consciously and unconsciously. The violent colonization of the west is only 3 generations old. My grandfather, for example, was born in a covered wagon as he came up from Oregon to homestead in Alberta. The government of Canada was able to give pioneers “free” land once the 30 million buffalo were massacred, systematically destroying the way of life for First Nations, and making way for the “cultivation” of the land and of the culture. I directly benefited from this colonization, and yet I was not responsible for it. What do I do with that? In Lucy the characters are lost, the ghosts of the past haunt them, AND dance with them. They need to climb over a pile of historical (and physical) garbage to have a view on what the future might be. In the West there is a tendency to try to erase history, bulldoze it, and build something new in the naive hope that it will be better.
Oliver Koomsatira : What or who are your inspirations?
Mark Lawes : The work of Winnipeg artist Marcel Dzama has been inspirational and has formed a part of our dramaturgical material. Also specific locations in Alberta have provided concrete material our trilogy on Death Desire and the West, including towns of Lac La Biche for On the Side of the Road and Wayne for Lucy Lost Her Heart.
Oliver Koomsatira : Do you believe Lucy Lost Her Heart is an accessible show for non-theatre or non-dance spectators?
Mark Lawes : I don’t make work specifically for theatre or dance spectators. Anyone who is interested in actively engaging in the world around them will find something of interest in our work. I believe that the spectator needs to be asked to interpret the world through their own eyes, and this is what our work allows and demands.
Oliver Koomsatira : What's coming up for you and/or Theatre Junction Grand?
Mark Lawes : I have been selected as a Laureate of the City of Paris and the French Institute to begin the creation of a new work at Les Récollets in Paris. This work will premiere in Calgary in March 2013.
Oliver Koomsatira : Any thoughts you'd like to share with the Montreal public?
Mark Lawes : For me Montreal is the cultural capital of Canada and it is a dream to play here and especially at Usine C which has such strong artistic program. We perform our work in French and English and I look forward to sharing our work with the Francophone and Anglophone public side by side.
For more information about Lucy Lost Her Heart, visit Usine C's website:
http://www.usine-c.com/fr/11-lucy-lost-her-heart.html
Snippets of Lucy Lost Her Heart