by Ed Fortune
Created by ballet dancer Emma Lister and contemporary circus artist Sakari Männistö, Insomniac’s Fable is a surreal dreamscape with evocative choreography by Ludovic Ondiviela and images created by Angela Annesley from her woodcuts. We caught up with Emma to find out more…
STARBURST: What is Insomniac’s Fable?
Emma Lister: It’s the merging of juggling and dance to tell a loose story with big set pieces, eclectic music and a healthy dose of surrealism.
How would you explain it to someone unfamiliar with performance art?
I think it was theatre/film director Sam Mendes who said of the semi-recent craze for 3D movies…I paraphrase here…”What’s the point? Theatre is already in 3D”.
No dialogue?
Nope!
Why this story in this format?
We made our own story, but it slyly references a lot of tropes of rom-coms and dramas… boy meets girl kind of stuff. We aren’t trying to compare or contrast ballet and juggling in terms of the format. Those were just the tools we had. If we were opera singers, we would have sung it.
What should we expect?
Juggling balls, juggling rings, juggling clubs, an enormous wolf, pirouettes, several costume changes, falling snow… and one blonde wig.
What was the hardest thing to do?
There’s always one section in any piece that is the hardest to get right – that you’re never quite satisfied with, that doesn’t sit well with the next scene, or what have you. It’s like you’re digging a tunnel, and you’re just in darkness. In this piece, it’s a dance with juggling balls to some techno music, the first big scene. I wasn’t really happy with it til now, I think we cracked it! We dug through to the other side!
How does this compare to your other work?
Our work always has elements of story, circus, dance and film references…but never an interval, so have loo break before we start.
What’s the appeal to readers of STARBURST?
It’s on at 11am. You can have a little lie-in, have a nice coffee at one of Edinburgh’s many fine coffee establishments, rock up to see our show and be out in time to see four more.
What media are you currently enjoying?
I’m a big podcast fan recently, I’ve liked:
The Turning: Room of Mirrors (dance)
You Must Remember This (movies)
and The Rest is Politics, I find soothing. It’s two people from ‘opposite’ political ‘sides’ having a civilised conversation.
What are your plans after the Edinburgh Fringe?
I actually have a podcast myself called MOVERS SHAKERS MAKERS. It’s about performing arts and dance…I’ve got a miniseries coming up about the use of ballet in horror movies.
