The odd, the sinful and the Punchdrunk

We saw London's most talked-about show and followed by chatting with dancer Fania Gregoriou, Punchdrunk's one and only Greek member.

Conor_Doyle-Ed_Warner- Omar_Gordon- Tomislav_English- Vinicius_Salles © Photo_Birgit-Ralf

Every new mission taken up by Punchdrunk-the London company that, since 2000, has been steadily playing the role of agitator in the local theatrical status quo-promises transcendence into a new theatrical dimension. In 2013, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable sprays a vast four-storey building in central London with bags of faded glamour, introducing the unsuspecting viewer to the Temple Studios' enigmatic and decadent microcosm.

Impeccably dressed in a white suit that fails to disguise a treacherous twinkle in the eye, a man welcomes our group of visitors to the studios' spacious elevator, just round the corner from London's central Paddington station. On our way up, he cheerily makes introductions to the studios bright protagonists smiling at us through the pictures that decorate the elevator walls. Suddenly, all movement stops and doors open wide but, as I'm ready to depart, the man blocks my way with a sinister glare - the first two people of the group seem to have already vanished in the dark..

Welcome to the bleak and unpredictable cine-world of the Temple Studios, where the award-winning Punchdrunk unfold their latest dark fairytale. Drawing upon Georg Büchner's familiar fragmented play Woyzeck, the restless 40-strong theatre collective comes to entirely transform this vast dilapidated former post office into an atmospheric trailer-park for ambitious ingenues and irritable cowboys - a second-rate parallel movieland living its own dead-end reality around the LA studios, in the beginning of the '60s.


As I finally make my way out of the elevator with the remaining of the group, geared by now with Punchdrunk's trademark faceless masks, I face a dancing couple crawling over and around the bonnet of a dusty red Studebaker in an impressive, forlorn contemporary waltz. On the far left, a rich colony of bare tree trunks populates the dim-lit canvas, where two men battle among their masked onlookers in fury - but they don't even seem to see us.

Like in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, we are part of a less voyeuristic, but equally fervent private club wandering this decadent palace at will, shielded behind our masks. Punchdrunk aficionados suggest you leave your partner's hand and friends behind in order to experience the play's full magnitude - and as I'm lost alone in countless corridors, parting black velvet drapes and squicking doors, I know they are right. In a labyrinthine set decorated with exhaustive and surreally beautiful detail the limits of fantasy and reality intricately mix, accompanied by a blaring soundtrack of creepy instrumentals and suspiciously jolly doo-wop.

Kate_Jackson-Oliver_Hornsby-Sayer © Birgit-Ralf

I'm snooping through the drawers in the private room of a semi-naked transvestite man, while he is sitting opposite me on the bed, staring blankly into space and transforming himself into a respectable employee in a smart suit. But I soon hear commotion in the opposite building and dash out, along with legions of masked onlookers that swarm in from every direction.. Could this be murder?
The complimentary flyers we collected at the venue entrance had already warned us about the two murders that will take place during the three-hour performance. A "detail" that only in the slightest does it prepare you for the surprises coming your way - like this article itself. Stranded in the wilderness, I "caught" Wendy stabbing Marshall in a state of paranoia after discovering his affair with the studio diva Dolores. Behind my deadpan facade, I was still gasping..

Comfy shoes are Punchdrunk 101 - the next corridor, you never know where it might lead.. If you're lucky, you will bump into other clamorous drinkers at the theatre bar, the only place where you can actually take off your mask and swing along the collective's live band. Before and after that you will immerse yourself in an odd and sinful universe, ethereal like Maxine Doyle's choreography, and decadent like artistic director Felix Barrett's baroque ambiance (the two also co-directed the Hollywood Fable).

In 2000, Puncdrunk revolutionised the London theatre scene with the "immersive", or "promenade" theatre phenomenon, a multi-levelled (beyond the actual building), interactive experience that knows how to titillate its audience's senses. Having by now gained the valuable support of Britain's Royal National Theatre, they have produced, since, monumental performances such as 2006's Faust and 2007's The Mask of the Red Death, based respectively on Goethe and Poe's timeless masterpieces.

You now often come across immersive theatre performances out and about London. I myself have in time transformed, among others, into a Parisian noble wandering around makeshift 19th century Parisian halls, courtesy of The Salon Project. It was there that a fellow "aristocrat" rehashed a night at the Barbican where he changed into his pyjamas and went to bed alongside a few dozen others, dozing off in between relaxing performances and chickens bwoking. Still, the highly inventive, both aesthetically and dramatically, productions that one experiences in the hands of Punchdrunk are hard to come by. The masked strangers in-the-know return again and again - and tickets for The Drowned Man will mysteriously vanish before you even say "Hollywood".

We chatted to dancer Fania Gregoriou after the end of the show.

 

Without necessarily giving away too much, which is, would you say, the highlight of this year's show? I don't know if I could distinguish a highlight. Every viewer takes their own journey into the world we have created, so each story and character you follow have their own highlight. You could say that the finale is a very strong moment, from the point of view that the audience sees all the characters together for the very first time.
What drew you personally to the company's work? What moved me the most was their strong cinematic quality. As a performer, you feel like you're playing in a movie and the audience's eyes are microcameras with the ability to zoom into your every move and expression.
Apart from obvious talent, what does it take to be a Punchdrunk? Every dancer-actor member of the company have a special quality to them. Strong presence, strong physicality, theatricality... Felix, our director, says "your goal today is to make at least one person from the audience fall in love with you". You also have to have great reflex and the ability to make decisions in unpredictable situations, based on the movement and choices of the viewers.
What are the most demanding, and what the most rewarding parts of your work at The Drowned Man? Our new work is particularly demanding on the dancers. The surfaces you're working on are not stage boards, like you're used to. You move on very hard and unusual surfaces. When we first came into the building for rehearsals it was a complete derelict! There was dust, sawdust, lots of noise, fresh paint, nails and tools all over the place! It was very hard to concentrate and you had to watch your every step - and, to top it off, the space was badly-lit. Of course, that's precisely what intrigues you in the first place: You get an unbelievably creative platform to work on. The set is so realistic that it effortlessly transfers you to a different time, which truly helps you build your character.
The fact that there's no physical limit between the stage and the audience is really fascinating for the viewer. How do you experience it from a performer's viewpoint? As a performer you are definitely more exposed than when you work on a traditional stage. There's absolutely no distance with the audience for three hours, there's nowhere to hide. It's this challenge that excites me the most.
The Drowned Man, like all other Punchdrunk shows, has an intensely dark vibe. Are you guys, I wonder, real jokers off -the-clock? It's true that all of Punchdrunk's work have a very dark element to them but, off the clock, we have a blast. We've turned into this big family now and it's funny, cause we spend every day together - we go out even on our days off. Right now there's no life for us outside the play. We share our ideas, suggest new things and, naturally, joke about all the funny experiences we've had every night. Every show is different, cause the audience is different.

By Danai Molocha


The article and interview were published on the Greek website Popaganda.gr, 17/09/2013.