Co-Creations and Group Pieces

Reditum Lux

Phénomena Festival

2015

Reditum Lux is the first collaboration between Nathalie Claude and Julie McInnes (singer, cellist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and performer) who are a couple in real life. The meeting of two artists with contrasting visions and experiences: one from the Montreal’s world of theater, movement and performance and the other from the Australian world of music, circus-theatre (Circus Oz) and 15 years performing with Cirque du Soleil.

Reditum Lux, speaks of a RETURN. The time when we return to ourselves, after a complex and powerful experience: a life changing experience. We meet a fallen clown (Nathalie Claude) stained with blood and mud, staggering in her knight’s armor, out of breath, with a bugle barely held at her fingertips. She is back from a mythical battle, and her quest is the one for light. Her path will be populated with challenges, cruel and playful games, and nightmarish flashbacks, where old demons will torment her until she finds the courage to chase them away definitively.

The “Deus Ex Machina” (Julie McInnes) shares the stage with her on this hilarious and poignant journey. Playing on several levels between manipulative-provocative-protector and narrator; she summons many characters and uses her voice, her songs and her cello to finally bring up the triumphant arrival of the famously awaited “light at the end of the tunnel”. A cathartic and liberating piece where luminous objects become the beacons to this chivalrous crossing.

“REDITUM LUX: The legend of a female warrior born from fog, chased by her own shadow. Returning from far, so so far, further than the furthest uttermost point. An internal battlefield enters center stage. A piece of Physical/ Musical theatre where the body sings/the music speaks /where the light is an actress and a liberator. The cello sweats and creaks,… the armor falls. The switch is ON and OFF. Singing voices, talking voices: sisters in complicity. Profound strings from the bow on the bloody heart. SHE_I am coming back from a battle so heavy, so filthy, so vile. BUT, Standing up to stamp out. LUX, finally: LIGHT. LUX, finally: a LIGHT. A work where the pain of mediocrity disappears at the first beam of LIGHT.” (Excerpt from the program)

Creation, direction, text, performance: Nathalie Claude
Creation, musical direction, set pieces, singing, cello, performance: Julie McInnes
Music collaborators: Lili Cauchon, Isabelle Lussier, Rachael Wood.
Creation of Lights and Shadows: Lucie Bazzo
Light accessories: Catherine Fournier-Poirier

Lenght: 40 minutes.

Presented at the Festival Phenomena—Sala Rossa, Octobre 18, 2015—Montreal