Song of the Goat's Anna Zubrzycka with the Fringe First Award
The Wrocław-based theatre troupe led by Grzegorz Bral and Anna Zubrzycka is honoured with the Fringe First and Herald Archangel Awards for their original Songs of Lear – a Shakesperian weft of music, words and gestures
Songs of Lear is a constantly evolving creative research project in which audiences witness an intimate artistic process, wherein dramatised songs take on the form of an oratorio. The visual structures of movement, a language of gestures which is integrated with the text comes together with music to create a breathtaking piece. Songs of Lear depicts a world of subtle energies and rhythms that govern Shakespeare’s tragedy. The company has chosen crucial scenes from King Lear to weave a story out of gestures, words and music. Each song is a starting point for a 'dramatic poem.' Here, it is the music that becomes characters, relationships, and events.
Each of the 12 songs are original compositions created by Polish multi-instrumentalist Maciej Rychły and the Corsican composer Jean-Claude Acquaviv and the dramaturgy of the piece was directed by Song of the Goat’s Grzegorz Bral.
In addition to the Fringe First, the company has been presented with the Special Prize of Theatre and the prestigious Herald Archangel Award, which is only given to three theatre productions of the Fringe festival. In a poll conducted by The List, a Scottish cultural magazine, Songs of Lear has also turned out to have gathered the best reviews from all the numerous critics and journalists attending the festival. The performace has scored the most stars out of all the 3000 titles presented in Edinburgh this summer, with 5 star reviews from the Herald, The Scotsmand and The List.
Alice De Cent who presented the production with a 5 star review for fringeguru.com placed emphasis on the way Song of The Goat use song to captivate the audience's imagination and wrote that "With piecing vocals and soothing harmonies, it is impossible not to get caught up in the story the performers weave for the audience.", calling it a magical theatre. The Guardian's summarising review of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival stated "Songs of Lear seems to have already passed into legend even though it's only a work in progress"
Apart from the Polish troupe, other performances presented with the 2012 Fringe First award included Chris Goode & Company and the Unicorn Theatre’s play called Monkey Bars, Silva Gallerano & Cristian Ceresoli’s The Shit/La Merda, Jenna Watt’s piece Flaneurs, Fishamble’s production The Wheelchair On My Face, Nutshell’s Thread and Sell a Door and Boxed Cat’sRainbow by Emily Jenkins.
The Scotsman journal introduced the prestigious 'Fringe First' awards in 1973. These awards were established by Scotsman arts editor Allen Wright to encourage new theatre writing, and are given only to new plays (or new translations), and several are awarded for each of the three weeks of the Fringe.
Since their inception in 1996, The Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Awards have been an integral part of the Edinburgh Festival scene, celebrating and rewarding the diverse range of talent from the various festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Jazz & Blues Festival and The Edinburgh International Book Festival. The awards have been bestowed upon some of the world's most recognised names such as Hollywood star Alan Cumming and Irish playwright Enda Walsh. Herald Angels are awarded to the best of the festivals’ performers, venues and backstage crew who have managed to impress The Herald's distinguished panel of arts critics. In outstanding cases, the panel may award an ‘Archangel’ - the highest honour presented at the ceremony.
Another production which travelled to Edinburgh as part of the 2012 Polska Arts programme that has garnered significant acclaim is Teatr ZAR’s Caeserian Section. Essays on Suicide. Teatr ZAR, which is also based in the South-Western city of Wrocław, is a laureate of both the Herald Angel and the Total Theatre Award.
Editor: SRS
Source: press release