May B Compagnie Maguy Marin
France
An arresting piece of dance theatre by iconic French choreographer Maguy Marin, inspired by Beckett.
Fri 05 Nov—Sun 07 Nov
05 Nov—07 Nov
Dublin Dance Festival is honoured to present world-renowned French choreographer Maguy Marin’s landmark piece, May B, to Dublin audiences for the first time as part of the Winter 2021 Edition.
↓ Read moreFrom the show
"Beckett’s cast of lost souls astonish with dramatic expression in this visionary homage."
The Guardian
"The tour de force is that Miss Marin does not exploit Beckett's material but treats it ingeniously through another dimension – dance."
The New York Times
Marin’s arresting and powerfully theatrical work is based on the writings of Samuel Beckett, who unexpectedly offered his blessing to the then largely unknown choreographer to adapt his work. Echoing the relentlessness of Beckettian characters, the ten performers appear barely human – an ensemble of lost souls, their faces plastered in clay. Moving together and alone, their gestures are distilled to repetitive shuffles and their words garbled and replaced with rhythmic sighs and grunts.
At once awkward, pathetic, ridiculous and comic, the hunched figures move in meticulous unison, but with increasingly expressive individuality – a tender gesture or a mischievous smile bringing each character’s personality to life.
Set to music by Franz Schubert and Gavin Bryars, May B features one single line from Beckett's play Endgame: “Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.”
The sparse choreography in Marin’s intuitively potent and timeless work is mesmerising – the dancers journeying in stoic defiance of uncertainty towards a destination that will, quite possibly, always elude them.
Credits
- Choreographer Maguy Marin
- Performers Kostia Chaix, Antoine Laval, Lazare Huet, Louise Mariotte, Lise Messina, Isabelle Missal, Cathy Polo, Agnès Potie, Rolando Rocha, Ennio Sammarco
- Lighting Designer Alexandre Beneteaud
- Costumes Louise Marin
- Original Music Franz Schubert, Gilles de Binche, Gavin Bryars
- Tour Manager Laure Delavier
- Co-producers Compagnie Maguy Marin, Maison des Arts et de la Culture de Créteil