On Thursday 13 and Friday 14 September, Kassys Theatre Company bring the UK Premiere of Cadavre Exquis to the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells. I chat with Liesbeth Gritter Director of Kassys Theatre Company.

Beth Wood: Can you give us a brief explanation on the concept of Cadavre Exquis?

Liesbeth Gritter: Cadavre Exquis is the result of an experiment between 4 theatre makers. It is made like a sort of relay. With relay I mean the following: When I was young we had this game (I’m sure you know it as well). In this game we made, with a group of kids, one drawing together.
We took a blank piece of paper and folded it a few times. The first one started and drew the head. He then folded the paper so that the next one couldn’t see the head, but only the transition from the head to the neck. Then the second one drew the body and so on, and so on. When the drawing was ready we unfolded the paper and a very surreal and strange figure came out. Maybe it was not always aesthetically responsible, but it was at least unexpected and playful.
Well, in Cadavre Exquis we have used these rules during the rehearsal period.

1. First Kassys invited 3 other theatre makers/directors to join in in this experiment.
2. Each director brought in 1 performer. Cadavre Exquis has therefore 4 performers, who are totally different, with different nationalities, backgrounds and qualities. This is of course special, because it is a group of performers that no one of us directors would have chosen out of an audition.
3. I (Kassys) started the rehearsals with these 4 performers and we made the first part. The rule was that each part should have a maximum length of 15 minutes.
After 2 weeks the next director came. We showed him only the last 60 seconds of the first part.
Then I (Kassys) left and the 2e director started working on part 2, based on the 60 second he had seen. After two weeks the third director came, he saw the last 60 seconds, and so on.
4. To keep the concept as clean as possible and to avoid influencing the directors, the performers had to keep everything they did before as a secret (they had to swore secrecy).
And they really did that very thoroughly, despite all the attempts of the directors to break this secrecy code….
5. After 10 weeks all the 5 parts were ready, of which I (Kassys), beside making the 1st part also made the last part.
6. We have put these parts after each other, of course in the order they were made.
(Part 1: Kassys, part 2: Nature Theater of Oklahoma, part 3: Tim Crouch, part 4 Nicole Beutler and part 5 Kassys again.)

BW: How was this project initiated and what background research did you undertake?

LG: Kassys came up with the concept. My background is visual arts and I’m still very interested in and inspired by visual art (and of course, the concept of making a cadavre exquis started more or less with the Surrealist).
When we knew the participants for our Cadavre Exquis, we divided the order. Because I was going to make the first and last part I did a lot of research on beginning and ending. In the most broadest sense of the word.

BW: You implemented several rules, what was the most challenging limitation in both performing and the choreographic process?    

LG: For me the most challenging was the core of the project: to really react on the 60 seconds (of the end of the previous maker). Because it turned out that 60 seconds is very little. And for me it was difficult not to prepare on forehand a lot of things (because that is how I usually work).
So, actually, to work in a different way that I’m used to was my biggest challenge.
For the performers, I don’t know. I think they struggled a lot with the secrecy code. And to open up again and again to the new director (5 times in 10 weeks) was intensive as well.

BW: Could you explain a little about your company and where it all started?

LG: Kassys is founded in 1999 by Mette van der Sijs and myself. Kassys makes theatre performances, movies and exhibitions, in which the beauty of the human success and failure is shown. Our source of inspiration is daily filled by curiosity, concern, surprise and annoyance about human behavioural mechanisms in the world around us.
The blur and distortion of the dividing line between real and fake behaviour (and the manipulative role of the media) plays a guiding role.
Kassys makes interdisciplinary performances, and we use a very personal and unique combination between the medium of theatre and film.
Our work can be seen in theatres, theatre festivals, on youth festivals, at film festivals and in exhibition spaces. We perform in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, England, Portugal, Switzerland, the United States and Australia.

BW: How important is collaboration to you and your processes?

LG: For me it was a big wish to work together with other artists and to walk a different path in the creative process compared to what I was used to. I’ve looked for a concept in which all the directors would influence each other, but at the same time would be able to remain the ‘captain of their own ship’.

BW: How do you think this experience will influence your future work?

LG: That is a bit too early to say, but it tastes like more.

Many thanks to Liesbeth from kassys Theatre Company! 

Kassys

Cadavre Exquis
UK Premiere
Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R
Thursday 13 - Friday 14 September 2012
Performances at 8pm
Tickets: £15
Ticket office: 0844 412 4300 / www.sadlerswells.com