Shown and Told
„Like boarded up windows, like stone steps, like the sound of voices from a far away room, like the smell of burning, like the way that condensation forms on windows, like searching for something, like searching through rooms.” — Tim Etchells
Shown and Told is a dynamic but fragile performance collage built from studio improvisation, balancing fixed material and possibilities for free-play. Arising from an exchange between choreographer and dancer Meg Stuart and writer and performance maker Tim Etchells, it exposes the very different practice and sensibilities of these two artists, exploring the relationship between movement, image and performing bodies. Working with vivid and surprising images, some of them physical some of them linguistic, the two performers develop a conversation that is tough, touching and comical by turns.
born in New Orleans, is an American choreographer and dancer, living and working in Berlin and Brussels. Stuart decided to move to New York in 1983 and studied dance at New York University. She continued her training at Movement Research. Interested in devising her own structure through which to develop artistic projects, Stuart founded Damaged Goods in Brussels in 1994. Together they have worked on over thirty productions, ranging from solos to large-scale choreographies. Improvisation is an important part of Meg Stuart’s practice. She has initiated several improvisation projects. The use of theatrical devices, in addition to the dialogue between movement and narrative, are recurrent themes in her choreographies. Stuart’s choreographic work revolves around the idea of an uncertain body, one that is vulnerable and self-reflexive. Her artistic work is analogous to a constantly shifting identity.
is an artist and a writer based in the UK whose work shifts between visual art, performance and fiction. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts, notably as the leader of the world-renowned. Sheffield-based performance group Forced Entertainment. With and for Forced Entertainment, winner of the prestigious Ibsen Award in 2016, he has created and realized dozens of performance projects earning him a. o. an invitation to the Berliner Theatertreffen. Many of the pieces have been shown at the TQW in recent years. Etchells is currently Professor of Performance & Writing at Lancaster University. Before Shown and Told, Etchells and Stuart already collaborated on Alibi (2001), It’s not funny (2006), All Together Now (2008) and the video installation I thought I’d never say this (2008).
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