LA MAISON OUBLIEE/THE FORGOTTEN HOUSE
A bilingual experience
The starting point of the narrative is a childhood’s memory: “‘when I was a child, I thought that at least one forgotten house existed somewhere, preferably in the woods, where I could discretely settle. If I scroll through my memory, I have a very precise image of that house, I even feel that it truly existed. What would happen if one day this imaginary house ended up in the real world?” As the book unfolds, the darkening pages make the text illegible. With LA MAISON OUBLIEE/THE FORGOTTEN HOUSE, the book as object is part of the narrative, and the slow movement of the 105 pages towards complete darkness is right away perceived as a key narrative element by the reader.
The performance The Forgotten House connects the feminine and masculine through the nuances of two languages: French and English. Each page of the book is first read in one language and then in the other one. This dramaturgy allows the segmentation of the text to spring forth: in the book, to turn a page is to move towards darkness. This plastic aspect is finely served by the work of two actors who, alike twins- or lovers- repeat a text which similar and slightly different at the same time. The melodies of the organ of glasses create a profound sound space which perfectly echoes the twists and turns of this original artistic experience.
ARTISTS
DOMINIQUE ROBIN
Artist/writer
MICHAEL SCHOLAR JR
Director
EMILIE GRUAT
Actor (French)
HUGH BULLER
Actor (English)
DENIS SCHULER
Musician
Translation: Émilie Gruat
Producer: Joy Arab
Thanks to Cammy Brothers, Oskar Arnorsson
Special thanks to Émilie Gruat and Dominique Truco
The french book: éditions dasein
May 23, Saturday, 2 pm
May 23, Saturday, 7 pm
May 24, Sunday, 1 pm
Schapiro Studio
Schapiro Hall, 605 West, 115th Street New York
Metro 1/116th & Broadway
