‘Høre, at ekko!’: echoes of Odin Teatret’s training in Triangle Theatre’s tribute to Danish celebrity

Talbot, RJ

Abstract

Theatre companies and arts organisations are usually exhorted by their funders to demonstrate the sustainability and legacy of their projects. This article considers an aspect of the legacy of Odin Teatret, one of Europe’s leading companies working in the lineage of Jerzy Grotowski’s ‘Laboratory Theatre. It considers the significance of this legacy to Triangle Theatre and its associates, tracing the influence of Odin Teatret’s methods in Triangle Theatre's approaches to characterisation, vocal work and its relationship with the established theatre. The latter aspect is considered in light of Eugenio Barba’s notion of the ‘Third Theatre’. The article examines Triangle Theatre’s Fringe-First winning work, The Dig (1992), created immediately after a period of training with the Odin, and the emergence of Triangle’s its 2003 tribute to the 1950s Danish singing duo, Nina and Frederik, from a participatory community project Nina and Frederick. The ‘full’ tribute show, På Genhør Med Nina og Frederik (trans) ‘Hear Nina and Frederik Again’, emerged from a turbulent phase in Triangle’s work, during which the ‘mantra' absorbed in training and in subsequent dialogue with members of Odin Teatret’, came into a conflux with the community arts agendas of a building-based Repertory theatre. This conflux is set against a popular cultural backdrop of increasing interest in celebrity impersonation beginning in the late 1990s and continuing unabated. Thus, the article is about the tensions and opportunities that arise when artists trained in experimental performance styles explore projects in the spaces between the popular and experimental creative zones. The article begins by analysing video footage of a performance of the Tribute at Odin Teatret’s theatre space in Holstebro, Denmark and offers a critical perspective on the way in which the tribute to Nina and Frederik is positioned as memorial event or document, in Triangle’s work. The article adopts Odin Teatret’s director, Eugenio Barba’s theory of incorporation in order to offer an insight into the problematics of imitation in training and performance.

Citation

Talbot, R. ‘Høre, at ekko!’: echoes of Odin Teatret’s training in Triangle Theatre’s tribute to Danish celebrity. Presented at A handful of dust : the praxis and diasporic legacy of Odin Teatret, Contact Theatre

• Presentation Conference Type: Keynote
• Conference Name: A handful of dust : the praxis and diasporic legacy of Odin Teatret
• Conference Location: Contact Theatre
• Acceptance Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 15, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 15, 2015
• Publisher URL: https://www.thirdtheatrenetwork.com
• Related Public URLs: https://www.thirdtheatrenetwork.com
• Additional Information: Access Information : Access by request, pending submission for publication; Event Type : Conference; Funders : Manchester Metropolitan University; Projects : A handful of dust : The Third Theatre Network