BAL TRAP
A NEW PLAY
For performances in BARS/PUBS
by Xavier Durringer
©éditions THÉÂTRALES, Paris for the original text.
Translated into English by the company
directed by David Furlong
With
Hannah Lean,
Fanny Dulin,
John Mc Quaid,
Robert Shilton
and the musician.
Xavier Durringer - "The French Ravenhill"
« I grew up in the Suburbs of Paris, in the North
Suburbia. This is a world I know quite
well and I write about what I know. It’s an observation. »
Xavier Durringer was born in 1963 in Paris. He is now one of the most important playwrights in France. His work has been translated into seven languages. In London, Mark Ravenhill’s translation of « A desire to kill on the tip of the tongue » was produced in 1997 at the Royal Court. Other credits include: La nuit à l’envers (Comédie Française), La Quille (National Theatre of Strasbourg), Surfeurs (Avignon International Festival). He also directed « Oh Pardon, tu dormais » a play written and played by Jane Birkin.
BAL TRAP is one of his earliest plays. Bal Trap was translated
into seven languages
and toured all around the world, except in the Uk: It has never been translated
nor performed in English before.
The Play
In Bal Trap, the situation is very simple: a couple is
at the edge of breaking up, another one is meeting for the first time. Characters
from the street, they are real people dealing with irrational feelings,
desperate for their love and their expectations.
Lulu and Gino are coming back to the place where they first met in order
to get their Love back. They‘re lost and they don’t know what
happened to them. Everyday life has killed love. Muso and Bulle are meeting
for the first time, torn between their desire to discover each other and
the fear of risking and losing. Words in Bal Trap are sharp and violent:
the language of the play is direct, crude.
Live music
In all the work of the company so far, the sound and the music, composed
by Dilan Hookoomsing has always been a major part. Dilan Hookoomsing is
a musician, composer, and sound designer. He’s been working on The
Exchange and BUSINESS with Echange Theatre, designing a variety of sounds
and composing original music. His creative input blends into Echange Theatre’s
work.
Echange Theatre would like to push further this relationship in the production
of Bal Trap. Dilan Hookoomsing, will be the musician, the fifth character
of the play; as requested by the playwright. With a guitar, the musician
will play througout the whole performance, altering, or enlightening the
moments of emotion of the play. His permanent presence will give a unique
and essential esthetic input, an element of urban poetry.