City Matters Edition 066

CITYMATTERS.LONDON 31 January - 13 February 2018 | Page 7
Entertainment Matters
NEW SEASON DISCUSSES BREXIT AND BORDERS AT BRIDEWELL THEATRE
Marching on
LIKE any major political event throughout
history, Brexit has inspired its fair share of
artistic expression.
Over the last 18 months, everybody from
Banksy to Mick Jagger have put pen to paper,
paint brush to canvas and spray can to brick
wall in an attempt to understand and respond to
Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
The latest is Marchland, a series of plays,
talks and exhibitions inspired by Europe’s
border regions from French theatre company
Théâtre Volière, which arrives at the Bridewell
Theatre next week. Artistic directors Mick and
Natasha Wood had been living in Strasbourg
upbeat end:
hear Åkervinda’s
Nordic folk
songs during
Marchland
right up until the referendum, when family
reasons brought them home to England.
Natasha says she was struck by London in the
aftermath of the vote, and how different things
were from the picturesque city perched on the
French and German border.
“It broke my heart; not the decision to leave,
but the atmosphere – it was all so brutal, it felt
like a divorce,” she says.
“I started thinking a lot about our time
in Alsace – the history, geography, mix of
cultures – it was such an amazing experience
and inspired me so much artistically that
I wanted to share that with a London
audience.” Marchland has attracted artists from
the Balkans, Hungary, France, Spain, Sweden,
Norway and Denmark, and includes theatre,
poetry, art and music on the theme of borders;
historic and contemporary, real and imagined.
“It can seem like quite a niche subject matter,
but there is actually a wealth of material – so
many brilliant stories are set on a border,”
Natasha explains.
Universal
Among those featured are Théâtre Volière’s
own Arnika, a whodunnit play set in a small
village in the Alsace mountains where residents
are attempting to rebuild their lives following
the Nazi occupation.
“We’re looking at the effects of the Second
World War on this small community – a
disputed territory – but it’s a fairly universal
examination of how good people can make bad
things happen,” Natasha says. From the border
of France and Germany in 1951 Marchland
moves to Scandinavia, with a performance from
musicians KultNett. Sound of the Arctic delves
into the history of the people of Norway, Sweden
and Finland and gives a voice to the Sámi people,
for whom these national borders don’t exist.
“It’s an interesting mix of music and stories
from this group of nomadic travellers who seem
to transcend the borders of Nordic countries
and create their own culture.”
Spanish photographer Ignacio Evangelista’s
exhibition documenting former border posts
between European states will be accompanied
by a reading from TS Eliot Prize-winning
poet George Szirtes, while former United
Nations prosecutor Alex Batesmith will present
reflections on his journeys to Yugoslavia before
and after its disintegration.
The final Saturday sees Swedish and Danish
vocal group Åkervinda take to the stage to
perform their unique modern Nordic folk
songs.
It is an upbeat conclusion to what
is otherwise seen as a fairly dark
subject matter in the creative
industries – British artists voted
overwhelmingly to remain –
but Natasha wants Marchland
to take on a positive tone.
“It’s not about being angry,
the tone isn’t even supposed
to be pro-remain, it’s really a
celebration of our shared history
with Europe.
“If we’re going to leave the EU
as a political structure, I want us to
remember our cultural ties – they’re
our neighbours, we’ve gone through
so much with them, that shouldn’t just
disappear.”
Marchland opens 5 February