SHOWS

Jos Houben Belgium

The Art of Laughter
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre >
Sat 12 to Sun 13 Jan
Sat 7.45pm, Sun 3pm & 5pm
BSL interpreted performance: Sun 13 Jan 3pm
Runs approx 60 mins with no interval
All seats £13 (limited concs)
Online booking >

‘If there's a more inspired contemporary physical comedian - I don't know of him' The New Yorker
‘With the subtlest of glances, or slight turn of the head, Houben has the entire audience in stitches’ The Scotsman

The 30th London International Mime Festival opens with the return of Jos Houben's brilliant analysis of physical comedy, The Art of Laughter. A sell out last year and a Total Theatre Award winner at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival, this witty and engaging performance/lecture explains and illustrates what makes audiences laugh. As well as being one of the original members of Complicité and involved in many of its greatest early hits, Jos' twenty year career includes writing and directing for groups such as The Right Size, involving him in some of the most successful physical comedy creations of recent times. He recently appeared in Paris and London in Fragments, a production directed by Peter Brook to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett's birth, and which will tour to America and Asia in early 2008.  He teaches at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Early booking recommended.

Presented in association with Southbank Centre

Mossoux-Bonté Belgium

Nuit Sur Le Monde UK Premiere
Directed by Nicole Mossoux and Patrick Bonté

Purcell Room, Southbank Centre
Mon 14 to Wed 16 Jan 7.45pm
After-show discussion: Tue 15 Jan
Runs approx 85 mins including interval

All seats £13 (limited concessions available)
Online booking >

‘With Mossoux-Bonté ambiguousness, double-meaning, everything which could disturb our perception and feeling is brought into play, with underlying humour and a deluge of visual beauty and sound'. Le Soir

The latest work from Belgium's celebrated Mossoux-Bonté Company brings stunning theatre of images. In the depths of the earth, men and women tear themselves out of the shadows and from the stone in which they were imprisoned. Nuit Sur Le Monde speaks about secrets of the body, the strangeness of existence and the mystery of death. It is the final part of a triptych whose first section, Noli Me Tangere (Don't Touch Me) has already been shown to great acclaim, winning the Critics' Prize at the 2007 Mimos Festival.

Nicole Mossoux and Patrick Bonté have been creating performances at the crossroads of dance and theatre since 1985. Seen in more than thirty countries and also on film, their work explores inexpressible feelings and sensibilities with a strange familiarity that grips the spectator's imagination.

Contains nudity.

www.mossoux-bonte.be >

B.P. Zoom   France

A Wonderful World  UK Premiere
Directed by Jos Houben

Purcell Room, Southbank Centre >
Thu 17 to Sun 20 Jan
Thu-Fri 7.45pm, Sat 6pm, Sun 4pm
After-show discussion: Sat 19 Jan

Runs approx 70 mins with no interval

All seats £13 (limited concs)
Online booking >
'Rare exponents of the true spirit of vaudeville, B.P. Zoom's ability to provide an hour's worth of gentle hysterics makes them worth two weeks on pure oxygen at a health farm' Independent on Sunday

Mr.B is fastidious in formal morning coat and pebble-glass specs, Mr.P is keen but clumsy.

The creation of American Bernie Collins and Frenchman Philippe Martz, B.P. Zoom is one of the great physical comedy double acts of modern times. In Paris they've played at the Opera Bastille and The Crazy Horse cabaret, and have toured worldwide. Now, after ten years away they return to London with their new show directed by long-time Complicité member, Jos Houben.

Presented in association with Southbank Centre

Nola Rae UK

Purcell Room, Southbank Centre >
Mon 21 to Wed 23 Jan 7.45pm
After-show discussion: Tue 22 Jan
Runs approx 80 mins with no interval
All seats £13 (limited concs)
Online booking >

'A brilliant clown with a vulnerability that beautifully mirrors human weakness.' The Guardian 
'Sheer joy, it's magical theatre.' The Stage

Britain's most celebrated mime/clown brings her inimitable humour and great artistry to explore the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - exploited child prodigy, unruly genius and natural clown. By turns hilarious and tragic, Mozart Preposteroso! is a wordless drama filled with insight and witty observation. In a career stretching over thirty years, Nola's successful blend of comic physical theatre, mime, dance and puppetry has delighted audiences in more than sixty countries. Instigator of the first London International Mime Festival, she originally trained with the Royal Ballet and subsequently with Marcel Marceau. She has been inducted into America's International Clown Hall of Fame and been honoured with a Total Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award.

www.nolarae.com >

Presented in association with Southbank Centre

Sadari Movement Laboratory   Korea

Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Southbank Centre >
Thu 24 to Sat 26 Jan Thu & Fri 7.45pm, Sat 5pm
Runs approx 75 mins with no interval
Seats £12 / £13 / £14 (limited concs)
Online booking >

‘The freshness and beauty of the visual storytelling, backed by the music of Astor Piazzolla, is often breathtaking. The young 12-strong company dance and act like demons, and then like angels.’ The Scotsman  
'A profoundly moving interpretation...a sublime combination of precision and fluidity, a remarkable piece of theatre'. British Theatre Guide

George Büchner's Woyzeck, based on the true story of a poor German soldier driven by inhuman military discipline to madness and the murder of his mistress, remains one of the most enigmatic, shocking and influential works of modern theatre. In this gripping, stripped-down version from Korea, objects, bodies, movement and space combine to create a dynamic physical and visual language, revealing the characters' emotional states with great clarity and force. Astor Piazzolla's passionate and atmospheric tango music is an integral part of the drama.

Presented in association with Southbank Centre and AsiaNow Productions

Collectif Petit Travers France

Purcell Room, Southbank Centre >
Thu 24 to Sun 27 Jan Thu to Sat 7.45pm, Sun 4pm
After-show discussion: Fri 25 Jan
Runs approx 65 mins with no interval
All seats £13 (limited concs)
Online booking >

'A fabulous collection of talents, a heartwarming night in the theatre'. Le Dauphine (Avignon Festival)

Aerial artistry, acrobatics, dance and world class object manipulation are the vital ingredients in this enthralling show from a trio of France's leading young circus artists. They came together at the Lido Circus School in Toulouse (whose alumni include Aurelien Bory and members of Compagnie 111) and were major prize winners at the Jeunes Talents Cirque showcase in Paris in 2004. Rounding off LIMF 2008 at the Purcell Room in sensational style, Le Parti Pris des Choses is visual theatre with brains as well as bravado!

www.collectifpetittravers.org >

Co-production: Collectif Petit Travers / Dieppe Scene Nationale /  Les Subsistances, Lyon
Presented in association with Southbank Centre

Pep Bou   Spain
with Jordi Maso (Piano)

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre >
Sun 27 Jan 6pm one performance only - early booking recommended
Runs approx 75 mins with no interval
Seats £12, £15, £18 (limited concs)
Online booking >

Visual theatre magician Pep Bou creates a world of brilliant colour, airiness and light. His shimmering, hand-blown soap bubble creations come in every shape and size from delicate miniatures to huge, myriad coloured artworks large enough to envelop a man. In this enchanting new show, a mix of concert and dazzling spectacle, his beautiful creations dance to the music of celebrated Catalan composer Frederic Mompou, Debussy, Faure and others, performed live by Spanish pianist, Jordi Maso. Pure wizardry, fleeting and fragile.

Originally trained as an architect, Pep Bou has held audiences enthralled for more than two decades, at scientific congresses as well as at leading theatres and festivals around the world. A delight for all ages.

Warning: cigarette smoke forms an integral although small part of this performance.

www.pepbou.com >

Presented in association with Southbank Centre

Teatro Corsario Spain

ICA >
Sun 13 to Thu 17 Jan 8pm
Runs approx 65 mins with no interval
Seats £13 (£11 concs)
NOT suitable for children under 16
Online booking >

'Provocative, seductive, entertaining and technically superb. Puppetry of the highest quality'. El MundoYoung Thalia's mother is possessed by demons and executed by the Inquisition. Penniless and orphaned, Thalia begs in the streets until one day she meets a young boy, Hans, who falls in love with her, as do many others. Her mother's ghost seeks to protect her from men...
 
After the resounding success of gothic horror tale Vampyria at LIMF03, the Spanish puppeteers return with more fantasy, terror and dark humour in their latest production, a blood-curdling and spectacularly erotic fairy tale for adults. Large scale puppet theatre like no other you've seen! Based in Valladolid, Teatro Corsario is one of Spain's most in demand theatre groups and has toured extensively throughout Europe and the Americas. 

www.teatrocorsario.com >

Teatro Corsario receives financial support from the Ministerio de Cultura de Espana, and from the Junta de Castilla y Leon

BlackSkyWhite  Russia

Astronomy for Insects  
London Premiere
Directed by Dimitry Aryupin

ICA >
Fri 18 to Tue 22 Jan 8pm
After-show discussion: Mon 21 Jan
Runs approx 70 mins with no interval
Seats £13 (£11 concs)
Online booking >

'I haven't a clue what Astronomy For Insects is about but it's a blast'. Daily Telegraph   
'A show which illuminates the term 'total theatre': the costumes, lighting, music and movement blend so seamlessly into a language we all recognise in our deepest emotions and most profound fears'. British Theatre Guide

As strange and surreal as its title suggests, Astronomy For Insects is an unnerving dance macabre from a country in the throes of change. It's the free-fall logic of dreams and nightmares, a sci-fi world of ominous, outlandishly costumed characters, giant columns of light, and thrumming sound that sends shivers up your spine.

BlackSKYwhite's performances are always magical sights, an alarming clash of beauty and terror. They tell no story, reveal no plot, they reflect reality through distorting mirrors, travelling the thin line between our outer and inner worlds. The company's previous production, The USSR Was Here, won the Critics’ Prize at the 2001 Mimos Festival.

www.blackskywhite.ru >

Silent Tide   UK/Germany

UK Premiere

ICA >
Thu 24 to Sun 27 Jan 8pm
After-show discussion: Thu 24 Jan
Runs approx 60 mins with no interval
£13 (£11 concs)
Online booking >

On Silent Tide: 'They created an apocalyptic vision of great beauty and strength. A masterpiece'. British UNIMA magazine

On Steel Cello Ensemble: 'A combination of sculpture, musical instruments and compositions that is innovative and exciting to experience. It summons outer-space images and time stops. The crowd is suspended on waves of sound, fascinated'. Boston Globe

A dynamic collaboration between visual and sound artists, Silent Tide is a modern saga about the movement of people, from desert sand to industrial city where humans are of little consequence. Without words the story unfolds through force of image and sound. The three puppeteers are led by director Sarah Wright (Little Angel Theatre and RSC), while the music is played on extraordinary instruments designed and built by Bob Rutman (Steel Cello Ensemble), Bastiaan Maris and Jeffrey Funt (Mastodon). Simultaneously classical and industrial, the Steel Cello and Bow Chimes are formed of stainless steel and curved into sails, and the Heater whose propane flames resonate in six raw steel pipes, creates tones of unfathomable depth.

www.silent-tide.com >

Silent Tide was created with Arts Council England support for international collaborations.Following performances in Berlin, and at the PUF Festival, Croatia, it has its UK premiere at LIMF 2008

Hiroaki Umeda/S20   Japan

Duo
Montevideoaki
while going to a condition
UK Premiere of a triple bill created and performed by Hiroaki Umeda

Barbican Pit >
Tue 15 to Sat 19 Jan 7.30pm
Runs approx 70 mins including pause
All seats £12
Online booking >

From one of Japan's most exciting young performers, three ultra-contemporary pieces which flash between the sublime and the violent. Street dance and Butoh combine to explore a radically minimalist aesthetic featuring fluid elegance and sudden shock waves of movement. In each work, Umeda's extraordinary actions appear within environments of sparse, dramatic lighting, strobing cyber-imagery, electronic beats and crackling digital soundscapes. Drawing on his contemporary Japanese roots he explores the disorientation and chaos of life in the big city.
Born in 1977, Hiroaki Umeda studied photography before turning to dance. Trained in classical ballet and hip hop, he founded his own company, S20, in 2000. He is a multi-disciplinary artist, creating all his own choreography, music, lighting and video and has performed at cutting-edge festivals around the world, including Kunsten Festival Des Arts in Brussels, as well as at many important international dance venues such as La Maison de la Danse in Lyon and New York's Dance Theatre Workshop. This is his first UK appearance.

www.hiroakiumeda.com >

Hiroaki Umeda is supported by the EU Japan Fest
Presented in association with Barbicanbite08

Miquel Barceló and
Josef Nadj Spain/France

Paso Doble UK Premiere

Barbican Theatre >
Wed 16 to Sat 19 Jan
Wed 8.30pm, Thu-Sat 8pm
After-show discussion: Fri 18 Jan
Runs approx 50 mins with no interval
Age guidance 8+
Seats £7 - £26
Online booking >

'A major work'. Le Monde
'Paso Doble is a living sculpture... mesmerising'. New York Times

Emerging from a giant wall of wet red clay onto a stage made of ten tons of the same, two black-suited protagonists chop, slap, shape and reshape the heavy material. They use outsize tools and the impact of their own bodies to form amazing shapes and structures. This extraordinary collaboration between a dancer-choreographer and visual artist explores the act of artistic creation itself, offering a revealing glimpse into the obsessions, anxieties and excitement experienced by artists in the process of making unconventional new work. Underscored by Alain Mahé’s live soundscape the two bodies gradually disappear as if absorbed into their canvas, themselves a part of the endless work-in-progress.

Paso Doble is the meeting of two highly accomplished artists. Josef Nadj is an internationally celebrated French performer-choreographer and artistic director of the Centre Choregraphique National d'Orleans. His previous UK appearance include two productions for the Festival, Woyzeck (LIMF 99) and Comedia Tempio (LIMF02). He was Associate Artist of the 2006 Avignon Festival.

Catalan sculptor and painter Miquel Barceló is one of Spain’s foremost contemporary artists. His work has been exhibited at the Pompidou Centre, Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he has recently been awarded prestigious commissions to decorate the cathedral in Palma, Majorca, and the United Nations building in Geneva.

Paso Doble premiered at the Avignon Festival and has since been presented in Paris and New York.

view it on youtube >
www.josefnadj.com >
www.miquelbarcelo.org >

Presented in association with Barbicanbite08
Commissioned by the 2006 Avignon Festival
Coproduction: Centre Choregraphique National d'Orleans

Faulty Optic / Mira Calix UK

Dead Wedding London Premiere
Conceived and directed by Faulty Optic
Music composed and performed by Mira Calix,
with a chamber ensemble from Opera North
Commissioned by Opera North Projects and Manchester International Festival

Barbican Pit >
Tue 22 - Sat 26 Jan 7.45pm
After-show discussion: Wed 23 Jan

Runs approx 80 mins with no interval

Seats £15
Online booking >

'With snatches of text, music by avant garde composer Mira Calix and a riot of visuals, Faulty Optic sends the story hurtling through time and space with an aesthetic that is part dreamscape and part brutal modernity'. The Times
‘There’s more to Faulty Optic than puppetry. Its dislocated Land of the Dead is brought to life with animated film and every type of non-verbal drama you can think of...constantly engaging.’ The Times

This reinvention of the Orpheus myth is a macabre mix of puppetry, film and opera. The story unfolds in Hades, the land of the dead - a surreal landscape populated by desperate souls and corroding memories.
Ripped apart by the fickle Bacchae, Orpheus is busy gathering his strewn body parts. If he can find Eurydice and persuade her to remarry him, they can be together for eternity, but she is desperately trying to wash something terrible away…
Cult puppetry company Faulty Optic is renowned for its haunting visual theatre, incredible automated sets, animated figures, cronked inventions and dark humour. Since 1987 its work has broken down standard conceptions of puppetry. Mira Calix's score is performed live, weaving a ghostly web of sound around the action. Her music uses jittering beats and electronic textures.
As a performer and DJ she has supported and toured with many well-known acts including Radiohead and Aphex Twin.

www.faultyoptic.co.uk >
www.miracalix.com >

:Dead Wedding was originally created for the Manchester International Festival to mark the 400th anniversary of Monteverdi’s Orfeo.
Commissioned by Opera North Projects and Manchester International Festival.
Presented in association with Barbicanbite08 and Opera North

Gandini Juggling UK

Downfall World Premiere
Directed by John Paul Zaccarini

Clore Studio Upstairs ROH2, Royal Opera House >
Sat 26 to Sun 27 Jan Sat 7.30pm, Sun 4pm
After-show discussion: Sat 26 Jan
Runs approx 55 mins with no interval
Seats £13 (£10 concs)
Online booking >

‘What one gets is an invigorating sense of liveness, of the joy and playfulness of living itself, something which forms an apt counterpoint to the cynicism and pessimism of the postmodern world and the theatre that mirrors it’. British Theatre Guide

After several seasons starring in the world´s great circuses and international variety shows, Sean Gandini's brilliant ensemble returns to its theatrical roots with this brand new show. Percussive, emotional and ghostly, Downfall unfolds as a series of images about the absurdity of throwing and catching which culminates in a joyous celebration of life. It features the Gandini's unique trademark of intricate, seamlessly interwoven juggling, creating a fairground of flying objects and a world of dazzling colour. Directed by the acclaimed John Paul Zaccarini, Downfall shows just why Gandini Juggling rates amongst today's top object manipulation ensembles, in worldwide demand for its artistry and originality. You will be astonished.  

www.gandinijuggling.com >

Gecko UK

The Arab & The Jew   London Premiere
Created by Gecko

Lyric Hammersmith Studio >
Fri 18 Jan to Sat 9 Feb 8pm (not Suns)
After-show discussion: Tue 29 Jan
Runs approx 60 mins with no interval
Not recommended for under 11s
Seats £12 (£7 concs)
Online booking >

'We have seen our fathers shouting and waving their arms in the air. We have watched from a distance and hidden from the news.'

Allel Nedjari and Amit Lahav are Gecko. Having grown up on opposite sides of the Arab-Israeli divide, here they celebrate their brotherhood and laugh and cry at their reflections.

Following the multiple-award winning Taylor’s Dummies and The Race (LIMF05) The Arab & The Jew is both a riot of sound, image and movement and an ambitious dance of reason and conciliation – performed with Gecko’s characteristic exuberance and physical skill. 

www.fueltheatre.com/gecko

Part of theMIX supported by Deutsche Bank
A Gecko production commissioned by Lyric Hammersmith, Drum Theatre Plymouth, New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Tobacco Factory, Bristol

O Ultimo Momento France/Portugal

Peut-Être  UK Premiere
Created and performed by Joao Paulo dos Santos and Guillaume Dutrieux

Laban >
Thu 17 to Sat 19 Jan 7.30pm
After-show discussion: Thu 17 Jan
Seats £13 (£10 concs)
Online booking >

Corn Exchange Newbury >
Tue 22 Jan
Online booking >
Runs approx 50 mins with no interval

'The intoxication of height and the excitement of falling...gravity turns on its head in this dazzling trip through space and time'. Danser

Chinese-pole acrobat and video artist Joao Paulo dos Santos teams up with roller-skating musician Guillaume Dutrieux in this exciting exploration of different artistic worlds, horizontal and vertical, visual and sonic, real and virtual.  There's beauty and physical risk-taking, superbly accomplished circus artistry and stunning video imagery, all prompted by a live, Miles Davies-like soundscore played in and around the action.The duo was a prize-winner at the 2004 Jeunes Talents Cirque, France's most important showcase for new circus performers, and subsequently Joao together with celebrated Portuguese choreographer Rui Horta, was invited to create a solo show for the 2006 Avignon Festival. Trained as a jazz musician, Guillaume Dutrieux has composed scores for theatre and circus, and toured with various reggae, salsa, jazz and funk music ensembles.

o ultimo momento website >

Co-production: Les Migrateurs, associes pour les arts du Cirque (Strasbourg); Sem Rede, reseau pour les arts du cirque (Portugal); La Ferme du Buisson, Scène nationale de Marne la Vallée; Le Cheptel Aleikoum.

Shunt Lounge UK

Shunt Vaults >
Sat 12, Wed 16 to Sat 19 Jan & Wed 23 to Sat 26 Jan

Entry: 
Wed-Thu 6pm-11pm
Fri 6pm-12 midnight
Sat 8pm-12 midnight

Day membership: 
£5 Wed+Thu, £10 Fri+Sat
PLEASE NOTE it is not possible to book in advance for Shunt Lounge events - just come along on the night and pay on the door.

The Shunt Lounge is a members' bar deep in the tunnels under London Bridge Station, hosting performance, music, film, installation and a bar that is open late. Many of these events will be in the early stages of development and presented for the first time. Every night will be different and sometimes there will nothing except tinkling glasses and the sweet sound of someone getting a round in. The lounge will be open as always on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights from 6pm to late, and on Saturdays from 8pm. On all nights you need to enter before 11pm. For the whole of the Mime Festival there will be a mainly wordless programme .

www.shunt.co.uk >

WORKSHOPS/LECTURE

Clown Through Mask
A Workshop course
led by Jonathan Young

Brixton Art Space
7 Jan - 1 Feb
Online booking through Shams >

This intensive course is a synthesis of Native American and European clowning traditions. By making and wearing six masks personifying different aspects of our self, we fully embody our humanity – both ridiculous and beautiful. The personas and worlds discovered then guide us when performing, helping us go much further than we could alone. This visionary training is for performers and artists who are open to working through the body, voice and imagination.

7 - 11 Jan (10am – 5.30pm): a preparatory week where we explore presence, colour, innocence and experience; with each person making, wearing and performing with their first mask. 
14 Jan - 1 Feb (9.30am – 1.30pm, not weekends): an optional continuation, where the five remaining masks are made and worn, leading towards the discovery of your clown. Includes technique and bodywork sessions, assisting the improvisation and performance work.

Jonathan Young is an experienced performer, teacher and artistic director of Shams theatre.

Course Fee (includes materials):
1st week only: £225
Full 4 weeks: £575
Venue: Brixton Art Space, 130 Brixton Hill, London SW2.
The studios are a 10 minute walk from Brixton tube, or a short bus ride on buses 59, 109, 118, 113, 133, 159, 250, 333.
Booking: see
www.shamstheatre.org.uk >
or ring + 44 (0)7740 475 879

Creating Theatre
Thomas Prattki

The London International School of Performing Arts
Sat 26 to Sun 27 Jan
Group A: 10am - 2pm Sat & Sun
Group B: 3pm - 7pm Sat & Sun

This two-day workshop will give an introduction into the dramatic use of time, rhythm and space and is based on the teachings of the late Jacques Lecoq.  It is geared towards actors, dancers and other performing artists who are attracted to the idea of creating their own theatre. The workshop is taught by Thomas Prattki, founder and director of the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) and former pedagogical director of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

Course Fee: £100
Venue: The London International School of Performing Arts, Unit 8, Latimer Road, London W10 6RQ
Booking: 44 (0)20 8969 7004 or email: welcome@lispa.co.uk
Nearest Tube: Latimer Road (Hammersmith & City Line)
Directions from Latimer Road:  Turn right out of the station and walk up Bramley Road, then turn left into Oxford Gardens; at the end, turn right into Latimer Road. LISPA is about half way down this road on the left, opposite Latimer Place.
Approximately 10 minutes walk.
Additional directions and a printable map can be found at www.lispa.co.uk >

LIMF/Total Theatre Lecture: TOM MORRIS
ICA Sat 19 Jan 2.30pm
£5.50

Tom Morris is a producer, director, journalist and broadcaster. He was director of BAC from 1995-2004 where he revolutionised the programme and established the venue as a national centre for the development of new theatre, working with companies such as Complicite, Improbable, Told by an Idiot, Ridiculusmus, David Glass, Spymonkey and many others, and nurturing high profile projects such as 'Jerry Springer: The Opera'.

Since 2004 he has been an Associate Director at the National Theatre, responsible for the development of some of the NT's greatest successes of recent times, Coram Boy, Tristan and Yseult, and currently War Horse, which he also co-directed. Throughout his professional career Tom has been closely associated with Britain's most notable visual theatre companies, supporting people and ideas which, in his own words, "turn out to be blooming marvellous a few years later".

His talk will cover issues of interest to everyone concerned with contemporary theatre.

Session runs approx 75 mins

ICA >

History

Go back to previous festivals online:

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