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APPI(A)PPIA

Art is an attitude. This attitude should be the collective heritage of humanity” Adolphe Appia

APPI(A)PPIA is a lecture poetic performance by the choreographer Avatâra Ayuso and the Professor Ángel Martínez Roger that takes us on the aesthetic journey and revolution that Appia underwent from the 19th to the 20th century. Through texts by Appia himself, Avatâra and Ángel reflect on the radical and daring proposals of this set designer, whose work became a defense of an active and tridimensional body, set and the introduction on electric light in that context.

Length
40min
Premiere
10th October 2017 at the European Center for the Arts Hellerau
Direction, Dramaturgy and Performance

Avatâra Ayuso y Ángel Martínez Roger

Set design

Ángel Martínez Roger y Avatâra Ayuso

Lighting

Falk Dittrich and Avatâra Ayuso (based on the original designs by Alexander von Salzmann)

Director’s Assistant

May Alhares

Voice in off Gordon Craig

Ian Knowles

Original text

Adolphe Appia and Gordon Craig

Music

Parsifal (R. Wagner), Die Walkure (R. Wagner), Orfeo e Euridice (Gluck), We Stay together (Andy Stott), Mothertongue (Abigail Fischer)

Musical arrangements

Avatâra Ayuso

Music Technitian

Robert Freitag

Video Technitian

Sebastian Rietz

A production by

European Center for the Arts Hellerau

© Images by Hellerau

“Our work has been an investigation into Appia’s theoretical contributions and biographical details, as the basis for our dramaturgy. The objective was to create a theatre piece showing the essence of his theoretical side at the same time as his humanity. We have tracked his achievements in scenographic investigation while evincing the pain and suffering this creative process caused him: from his reflections on Wagnerian scenic design, his relations with Dalcroze, his personal correspondence with E. Gordon Craig (the other great scenographer of the early 20th century), the importance of electric lighting, and his visionary work with Salzmann. Our four scenes move through these states of mind, relations and questions which Appia considered throughout his life, fighting to achieve a long-lasting and revolutionary modern concept for scenic space.”

Ángel Martínez Roger

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