International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) 2014: A state sponsored experiment with hits and misses

Deepa Punjani

My Top 5 Productions at the Festival

S/HE IS NANCY JOE (Czech Republic)

Director: Mirenka Cechova

Company: Tantehorse


	S/HE IS NANCY JOE

This was the second-last performance at the festival but it was my best. And verily, one of the finest pieces of contemporary dance I have seen in recent times. S/HE IS NANCY JOE tackles the identity of a transgendered individual. Nancy Joe is born a 'girl' but would prefer to be a boy. Director Mirenka Cechova plays Nancy Joe in this solo dance piece, conceptualised by her and Meghan Raham. The 55 minutes piece is a taut, beautifully performed, thoroughly gripping piece of theatre that uses hip-hop and comic-book inspired visuals to underscore the myriad issues that a transgendered person faces. It is stylish and poignant, ingeniously using the visuals projected in the background to interface with the dancer's body, thus creating a scintillating visual and a potent sub-text in the foreground that addresses the very problems and dilemmas faced by transgendered people who find that society is harsh and reluctant to accept them. The dancer has a single prop- a white table with a glass top that she routinely engages with as a means of seeing through the story that we see projected onto the screens in the background. The production's minimalist tone emphasises on the dancer's skill and the simultaneous pictorial narrative, resulting in a layered and seamless performance. It is also testimony to the endless provocations of theatre that relies first and foremost on the fundamentals of strong performance and good storytelling.

Bravo Mirenka and team Tantehorse!

Visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TKHASBxxc

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International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) 2014: A state sponsored experiment with hits and misses

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