APOLOGIA
APOLOGIA is structured in three parts, plus a coda. The three parts read like short novellas, each revolving around the problematics of translation and interpretation.
A woman talks to a disembodied voice about her fantasies of becoming a French actress. Two disappointed tourists in Paris question the cost of replicating the past and the value of beauty. A French translator attempts to navigate her complex relationship with her mother.
In its accumulation of parts, APOLOGIA attempts to embrace multiple language realities: from stand-up comedy to theatre to film, and from English to French to Japanese and back again.
“An ‘apologia’ is not an apology. On the contrary, it is a defence (written, spoken, passionate, logical, whatever) of one’s actions or beliefs. So what is Nicola Gunn defending here? It is the ambiguity of something translated, transformed, recreated, replicated, copied, or incorporated into something else. What then is the nature or essential essence of the ur-thing that is translated, transformed and so on? What is its authenticity? (Some may recall the Abbas Kiarostami movie Certified Copy.) Nicola Gunn, a true original, knows what she is doing –even if we may take a while to catch up –and she will give us whatever it is with great charm and elan.”
–– Michael Brindley, Stage Whispers
“…It’s strikingly original theatre that will stimulate reflection on the philosophy behind performance and translation. How do you translate your ‘self’ (or someone else’s) into another language? How does language itself influence our experience of reality, of art?”
–– Cameron Woodhead, The Age
Written and Directed by NICOLA GUNN
Performed by NICOLA GUNN, SEVERINE MAGOIS, TAKA TAKIGUCHI and YUMI UMIUMARE
Sound Design and Composition DARIUS KEDROS
Scenography KATIE ÅTLAND
Lighting Design EMMA VALENTE
Costume Design KATE DAVIS
Video Design MARTYN COUTTS with RUBI DINARDO
Co-produced by Malthouse Theatre, Bit Teatergarasjenand RosendalTeater. This project was developed with the support of NorskKulturrådet, Fond for LydogBilde, Bergen Kommuneand Asia TOPA Festival.