Alice Booth
ArtsAgenda
18 Margaret Street
Brighton
BN2 1TS
T +44 (0)127 362 6519
E alice@artsagenda.co.uk
W rotozaza.co.uk
Performance in Profile links:
Dance
- Small-scale companies/artists
- Middle-scale companies
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- Small-scale companies/artists
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Live Art
- Live Art companies/artists
Outdoor Work
- Outdoor companies
SIZE OF COMPANY
Up to 3 on the road
SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to large-scale
PERMANENT STAFF
Co-Artistic Directors
Ant Hampton and Silvia Mercuriali
Project Manager (ArtsAgenda)
Alice Booth
Producer (ArtsAgenda)
Emma Haughton
ARTISTIC POLICY
Since 1998, Rotozaza has produced innovative, humorous and risk-taking theatre. From their beginnings exploring the use of unrehearsed performers taking instruction live onstage, the company has since developed their ‘Autoteatro’ series, where audience members engage with each other or their surroundings by following instructions through headphones. It is via strategies such as this that Rotozaza’s work carefully confuses reality and fiction, celebrating 'what can only be done live'. Rotozaza's work is production-light, inexpensive to travel and can often be translated.
REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘A delicious anti-consumerist meditation… a quirkily subversive situationist amble through the checkout tills and back again.’ The Herald Scotland (Wondermart)
‘Hugely entertaining... This smart, mysterious exercise in programmed thinking and collective chaos is strange but exhilarating.’ The Times (GuruGuru)
‘Gripping… If the line between audience and performer seems blurred, Rotozaza’s Etiquette erases it entirely.’ New York Times/Herald Tribune (Etiquette)
CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Etiquette Rotozaza’s first ‘Autoteatro’ work, is a half-hour experience for two people in a public space (eg café, lobby). Participants wear headphones telling them what to say to each other. Etiquette explores the difficulty of turning our thoughts into words we can trust. Available in 13 languages. (28 mins, multiple tables can be installed, 0–2 on the road – can be set up remotely.)
GuruGuru Five people follow different instructions via headphones, and find themselves in an oddly familiar dystopia. Proceedings are led by an on-screen, animated character whose twin roles of marketing and spiritual guru are confused by his reliance on untested and accident-prone technologies. A beautifully orchestrated chaos develops, exposing today's consumer-mad inability to distinguish between what we want, and what we need. (50 mins, multiple setups possible, 0–2 on the road – can be set up remotely.)
Wondermart An audio tour in which the audience is both observer and actor in the drama of an ordinary supermarket. Taking a mischievous swipe at the dominance of supermarket culture and consumerism, participants are anonymous behind their trolleys, immersed in a private world as the carefully constructed soundscape overlays an intriguing fictional environment in a familiar setting. (30 mins, multiple mp3 players and downloads possible, 0–2 on the road – can be set up remotely.)
WRAP-AROUND
Seminars – a 2–3 hour seminar led by one of Rotozaza’s directors, which gives a background and history of Rotozaza’s work and development and provides the opportunity for participants to try out some of the company’s previous shows.
Workshop – a longer 1–2 day workshop that looks deeper into Rotozaza’s fascination with people coping with tasks, live and unrehearsed. Challenging and fun, the workshop offers a contemporary, useful and practical insight into the very heart of our fascination with the live act. For artists of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of their experience in theatre/performance. Can be adapted for younger participants. Works well in simultaneous translation.
Associated film and music programme by Ant Hampton, Joji Koyama and Isambard Khroustaliov available alongside GuruGuru.
Post-show discussions, talks and seminars by arrangement.
RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2009 Japan, Spain, France, Hungary, Belgium, Singapore, Poland, Germany, Italy, USA, Croatia (Etiquette), USA (GuruGuru), Ireland, Finland (Wondermart)
2008 Ghana, Nigeria, Mexico, USA, Spain, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Switzerland, Italy (Etiquette)
2007 Argentina, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Norway, USA (Double Think/Five in the Morning)
2007 Portugal, Holland, Germany, USA (Etiquette)
TOURING AVAILABILITY
All current productions available for touring
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