When and by whom was it decided that all things be divided into the essential and the luxurious? When and by whom was it decided that the luxurious be a privilege and not a right? When and by whom was it decided that everything that we consider meaningful – travel, festival, music, art, literature, cinema, alcohol, noise, dance – be regarded as luxury, and therefore a privilege and not a right? When and by whom was it decided that pleasure effectively be a privilege and not a right? When and by whom was it decided that access to luxury, to everything we consider meaningful, be dictated by a system as arbitrary and unjust as money? When and by whom was it decided that state provision of luxury should itself be regarded as a luxury? When and by whom was it decided that luxury, being everything that is understood to be meaningful, be something that it is acceptable for many to live without?
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Just back this week from doing the Festival OFF in Avignon, where we saw a bunch of stuff, some good, some bad, and a couple of excellent shows: the first, “Riz au Lait”, by Riverbed Theatre from Taiwan, was dreamy and unsettling with some astonishing images; the second, “Riflessi”, directed by Regina Brunoni and performed by Antonio Corsi, both from Italy, was even better, a double portrait of Antonio and of his mother, by turns both tender and abrasive. Our own …SIRENS performances went well, small audiences but more people came each night and the show grew as iara discovered new things in the work, so happy with that. The festival itself is a bit of a monster (in Europe, only Edinburgh is bigger I think), the size of it all favouring only the loudest and most accessible work, but still, a good atmosphere down there despite the heat, and the medieval quarter where the festival takes place is beautiful. We’re now in August taking a month off to look at some new ideas and then we’ll be back in September with more …SIRENS, more …DANCING, and a new site specific show called BESTIARIO URBANO that we’re making in Vitoria-Gasteiz in collaboration with 3 other local companies, and which is looking to be something special. You can see stuff about all of that via HERE
Puede que todos esos lujos que nos damos a diario sean un derecho pero mientras vivamos en este sistema neo-capitalista en el que la moneda de cambio prevalece sobre todo lo demás va a estar difícil.
Me alegro de que os haya ido bien en Francia; aprovechad agosto para volver a tope en septiembre. Por cierto, eso de Bestario Urbano suena realmente bien!