BANDIT is a 45 minutes-long piece mixing spoken word, animation, original

music/sound, installation and drawing. The piece is constructed through

drawing and spoken word so that by the end, it becomes an installation. For

this project we have collaborated with composer Daniel

Linker Saravia and animator Hannah Taggart.

BANDIT was inspired by accounts of the survivors of Experiment Pitesti: an

experiment of brainwashing through torture conducted in Communist prisons

of Romania in the 50’s.

The montaged fragments of testimony have been blended in a Kafkaesque

scenario, where two friends are imprisoned and only one survives (in a

world in-between life and death) to tell about the ordeal.

BANDIT is part of research into actors and acting in a second (non-native)

language and artistic exile. We have approached such a violent theme in order

to investigate and outline the deep ruptures that occur within artists and exiles

when they leave or they are forced to leave their home cultures and

languages.

The piece is very moving, particularly in the context of immigration and

refugee crises everywhere in the world and it sheds light onto how violent such

processes can be for their protagonists: immigrants, refugees, expats. The

piece questions our imbedded histories, histories of war, terror, torture and

despair that we all might carry within and transport to our places of exile

(our newly found homes).

BANDIT has been awarded the Biggest Punch in the Face Award at the

Gothenburg Theatre Festival and has been nominated for Best Performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supported by Bristol University