An promenade performance pushing the boundaries of technology and imagination in a site specific collaboration between writer John Berger, poet and novelist Anne Michaels and theatre-maker Simon McBurney. Performed by Complicité, the event was production managed by John Farquhar-Smith.
McBurney asked Ortel onboard to produce special visuals that played a major role in the show's narrative. The potent and emotional work explores themes of immigration, displacement, deportation and conflict, taking the audience on the fast track from industrial to the metaphysical via the memories and hidden histories of 'arrivals' and 'departures'.
Ortel turned to XL Video and to arts specialist and project manager Malcolm Mellows - to supply equipment and technical support for the show. One entire end wall of the vaulted ceiling 19th century gym was utilized as the projection surface, complete with blemishes and roughness aimed at emphasizing the authenticity and honesty of the images. These ranged from the abstract to the literal - people on the move, goodbyes, rail tracks, trains views out of the window, movement, fluidity, itinerancy, forced separation - a myriad of expressions and emotions passing in a few moments.
For Ortel and McBurney much remained theoretical until they arrived on site - just five days in advance of the first performance. "The lack of time was a major challenge" explains Ortel. Prior to that they had spent a week rehearsing in a small room. "Working with Simon is always interesting and experimental" says Ortel, "You discover new and inventive ways of applying technology."
Ortel spent two weeks filming the footage - in London and Berlin - sometimes employing creative tactics to access tracks, trains and parts of the stations. He edited and treated the material using Final Cut Pro and After Effects, working with Lorna Heavy. All the clips were stored on a Catalyst digital media server supplied by XL. The projection surface and its position in the room threw up specific challenges. Ortel decided on a wide screen format covering the whole 20m width - which is difficult to achieve with two projectors and an expedient budget! However, Catalyst provided a flexible solution, and he made much use of its layering capabilities.
The projectors - two NEC XT5000s - were positioned up on a balcony, complete with 2.5 - 5.5 zoom lenses to cover the full wall. In addition, six 21" TV wall monitors, were dotted around the main performance space. At the start of the piece these relayed clips, slowly introducing the concourse. The space was then opened up to station like proportions when the projection kicked in.
Two live cameras were also fed into the Catalyst system, which was controlled by Ortel using a Hog PC and a programming wing. XL's Malcolm Mellows commented: "This was a fantastically well chosen location in which to perform the promenade style event. The combinations of venue, video, audio and lighting were at times shocking and gigantic in their use, whilst at other times drew the viewer into the minutiae of small yet vital component parts. The imagination of Complicité's staging and Sven's astounding Catalyst use always excites. We look forward to working with him again on Complicite's long awaited touring production of "Measure for Measure", later this year". XL Video and Mesmer worked on this production when it premiered at The RNT in 2004.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
