FORMA

figuren theater tübingen & Compagnie Bagages de Sable & Theater Stadelhofen “Hôtel de Rive – Giacometti temps horizontal”

(Germany/France/Switzerland)

Frank Soehnle – a distinguished puppeteer from Germany – will present his latest work at the Materia Prima Festival, to the accompaniment of live jazz music, played by brass virtuosos.

Frank Soehnle with his figuren theater tübingen will present his performance, created in cooperation with Compagnie Bagages de Sable and Theater Stadelhofen, at this year’s Materia Prima Festival.

figuren theater tübingen is a professional, independent theatre company whose members explore areas poised on the borders of puppet theatre and other forms of art. The troupe moves confidently among the conventions of figure, object and living matter ; they also prepare performances with actors. Each show is a presentation of the artists’ exploration of new forms of expression and conveying meaning.

figuren theater tübingen was founded in 1991 by two puppeteers: Frank Soehnle, a stage designer and director and Karin Ersching. It was founded as a non-repertoire theatre, creating performances for adult spectators. The number of artists working with the theatre has increased with every performance, among them those representing different artistic disciplines.

The company has performed at numerous festivals and toured in over 40 countries across the world. Its artistic achievement also involves performances created in coproduction with other theatres, as is the case with “Hôtel de Rive – Giacometti’s horizontal period”, co-produced with Compagnie Bagages de Sable and Theater Stadelhofen.

“Hôtel de Rive – Giacometti temps horizontal”

A performance woven out of words, sounds, materials and movement, which attempts to touch on the achievement of Alberto Giacometti, the sculptor, painter and writer. The creators of the performance are trying to show the artist’s achievement in his search for the absolute. The show draws from Giacometti’s three surrealist texts: “Yesterday, the Quicksands”, “The Dream, the Sphinx and the Death”, “Paris Without End”. All these texts tackle the matter of time and are representative of different phases of Giacometti’s life. The stage movement of the puppets and music was inspired by Giacometti’s drawings, but they also form their own visual poetry.

The title of the play relates to the Hotel de Rive in Geneva, where Giacometti stayed during the war. During the time he belonged to the circles gathered around Albert Skira, the publisher of “Labyrinthe”, in which these three precursor texts first appeared. Yet Giacometti’s stay in Geneva also coincides with a difficult phase in his artistic development and a deep artistic crisis. The sculptor lived in a modest hotel room, which he also used as his atelier. Every day he did nothing but try to sculpt but all he could manage were tiny figures. According to Skira, when Giacometti was leaving Geneva at the end of the war, all his work could be packed into six matchboxes so that they could travel in the artist’s pocket.

Reviews:

A refined synthesis of arts in an exciting musical frame.

[Stuttgarter Zeitung]

Soehnle weaves out of people, fragments of texts and sounds a theatre drunk with Giacometti’s vision that the spectators can easily get intoxicated with; in this combination of arts there is nothing even vaguely reminiscent of pushy didactics.

[Züricher Tages-Anzeiger]

The team working with the master puppeteer Frank Soehnle approaches the figure of Alberto Giacometti through his texts. One of the actors, Patrick Michaelis, became almost a massive rock on the stage. Sand was dropping off his forehead and miniature marionettes were dancing on his body. The video projection accompanying the show and the play of shadow and light made this show a breath-taking event.

[Ruhrnachrichten]

Soehnle is one of the pioneers who opened the door of puppet theatre to other forms of art, introducing music and acting into puppet shows as well as the visual arts and literature. This is art light years away from any form of realism, but through this, much more intense.

 [Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung]

Duration time: 55 min.

phot. Helmut Pogerth

Artists:

Puppets and puppet stage movement: Frank Soehnle

Actors: Patrick Michaelis

Music – composition and performance: Jean-Jaques Pedretti and Robert Morgenthaler

Stage design and costumes: Sabine Ebner

Artistic cooperation: Enno Podehl

Technical service: Robert Meyer i Christian Glötzner

Assistant: Irene Lentini

Documentation: Claude-Alice Peyrottes