"Mesmerising surealest Imagery "
*****
"A meditation on loss, morning and the transience of memory"
Think Me in Circles
A touching autobiographical story about a mother coming to terms with the suicide of her adult daughter. Life cannot stand still, it must move on, taking the pain with it, resulting in a greater awareness. Breaking the silence of mental health issues, Think Me In Circles explores inter-dimensional qualities merging dream-like symbolic visuals, physical theatre, puppetry and live music.
Cast and crew:
Director: Pelagie-May Green
Artistic Director: Pascale Pollier
Writer: Daiana Maes
Actor: Josefine Elfrida Hartvig Twisttmann
Performer/Puppeteer: Meeri Aro
Performer/Puppeteer: Henry Barker
Performer/Puppeteer: Pelagie-May Green
Artist/Sculptor: Pascale Pollier
Puppetry Consultant: Sean Garratt, Heather Lai
Musicians: Steve Aruni, August Janklow
Sound: August Janklow
Lighting design: Henry Barker
Image photographer: Eloise Green
Producer: Pascale Pollier, Pelagie-May Green
Writer: Diana Maes
Director: Pelagie-May Green
Reviewer: Emily Beech
Think Me in Circles, written by Diana Maes, is an exploration of grief through physical theatre, puppetry, live music and monologue layered over each other in a dream-like amalgamation. This is not, by any means, a narrative-driven play, but we are presented with a central idea concerning a mother losing her daughter to suicide which sensitively ties together the many on-stage languages in this piece.
There is arguably only one ‘character’ role in this piece, Josefine Elfrida Hartig Twisttmann performs this part, alone on stage surveying the space as the audience files into the Pit venue. Slowly, as her monologue unfolds we realise that she represents the mother, the one left behind to grieve after losing her daughter. Twisttmann is extremely committed on stage, absolutely submerged in the sincerity of the work and very convincing in her portrayal of an experience that most of us could never even begin to imagine.
But the keystone of Think Me in Circles is its use of physical theatre; alongside Twisttmann’s continuous speech three more performers accentuate and world-build with puppetry as well as their own bodies. Meeri Aro, Henry Barker, and Pelagie-May Green breathe and move as one slick ensemble, creating impressive puppetry with a life-sized plaster face and arms. Later in the piece, another puppet figure is created out of a much cruder mask, with less distinguishable facial features and with only sticks for arms. As much as I enjoyed this element of the work, often it was unclear exactly what the function of the puppetry was – Twisttmann’s monologue also detailed the character of a husband and father: was the second puppet meant to depict this person? Or perhaps were both puppets depictions of the daughter at various points in her mothers’ memory? Or maybe the answer is simply down to individual interpretation. These sections of the work were extremely promising and very exciting to watch, and I appreciate that the piece is not meant to be straightforward, but if the waters are too muddied it can be alienating for an audience.
The technical elements of this piece were consistently brilliant. In particular, one moment where the space is quite abruptly lit solely by a single lightbulb, hanging over Twisttmann’s head and ‘held’ by the plaster arm of the puppet. Moments like this are very arresting: where everything feels texturally very rich and busy, then suddenly reduced to a single technical element supporting everything around it. In general, there was lots of beautiful light and shade in this piece – literally and figurally.
A huge acknowledgement must go to the musicians, who complement the action on stage perfectly without being phased out into the background – its wonderfully refreshing to see music and musicians actually integrated into a piece of theatre.
Think Me In Circles is a sensitive, exploratary piece of high ambition that is clearly written from a place of lived experience and personal history. I truly hope this piece has a long life after VAULT festival.
Director: Pelagie-May Green
Reviewer: Emily Beech
Think Me in Circles, written by Diana Maes, is an exploration of grief through physical theatre, puppetry, live music and monologue layered over each other in a dream-like amalgamation. This is not, by any means, a narrative-driven play, but we are presented with a central idea concerning a mother losing her daughter to suicide which sensitively ties together the many on-stage languages in this piece.
There is arguably only one ‘character’ role in this piece, Josefine Elfrida Hartig Twisttmann performs this part, alone on stage surveying the space as the audience files into the Pit venue. Slowly, as her monologue unfolds we realise that she represents the mother, the one left behind to grieve after losing her daughter. Twisttmann is extremely committed on stage, absolutely submerged in the sincerity of the work and very convincing in her portrayal of an experience that most of us could never even begin to imagine.
But the keystone of Think Me in Circles is its use of physical theatre; alongside Twisttmann’s continuous speech three more performers accentuate and world-build with puppetry as well as their own bodies. Meeri Aro, Henry Barker, and Pelagie-May Green breathe and move as one slick ensemble, creating impressive puppetry with a life-sized plaster face and arms. Later in the piece, another puppet figure is created out of a much cruder mask, with less distinguishable facial features and with only sticks for arms. As much as I enjoyed this element of the work, often it was unclear exactly what the function of the puppetry was – Twisttmann’s monologue also detailed the character of a husband and father: was the second puppet meant to depict this person? Or perhaps were both puppets depictions of the daughter at various points in her mothers’ memory? Or maybe the answer is simply down to individual interpretation. These sections of the work were extremely promising and very exciting to watch, and I appreciate that the piece is not meant to be straightforward, but if the waters are too muddied it can be alienating for an audience.
The technical elements of this piece were consistently brilliant. In particular, one moment where the space is quite abruptly lit solely by a single lightbulb, hanging over Twisttmann’s head and ‘held’ by the plaster arm of the puppet. Moments like this are very arresting: where everything feels texturally very rich and busy, then suddenly reduced to a single technical element supporting everything around it. In general, there was lots of beautiful light and shade in this piece – literally and figurally.
A huge acknowledgement must go to the musicians, who complement the action on stage perfectly without being phased out into the background – its wonderfully refreshing to see music and musicians actually integrated into a piece of theatre.
Think Me In Circles is a sensitive, exploratary piece of high ambition that is clearly written from a place of lived experience and personal history. I truly hope this piece has a long life after VAULT festival.
