2002: Company of Angels
Our next show, Company of Angels, Alison and I worked together closely. It was a sensible and natural development for our company. We shared equally the writing, designing, making and directing the show. It was very much a joint effort even though the original idea and outline had been inspired by a visit I made to an exhibition of paintings by Charlotte Salomon at the Royal Academy.
Salomon had been murdered in Auschwitz. Despite only being 26 she produced an amazing series of vivid gouaches telling the story of her life. Her visual story included the background to her immediate family; the growth of nazism, and the series of events that led her to death in a concentration camp. These Charlotte planned to be bound together as ‘Life. Or Theatre?’. It was an ambitious and almost operatic concept which included some text along with suggestions for music alongside her paintings.
Despite the grimness of the subject, Salomon’s work is full of life and colour, even humour. It’s a remarkable testament, and remains seriously under-appreciated. We worked with the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, who hold Salomon’s complete collection. We paid them for copyright for some of the material, but they wouldn’t allow any direct use of the images in our production. This forced us to re-imagine and re-make all aspects of her story. Although we decided to follow Charlotte Salomon’s style closely, in some ways the limitations imposed by the JH Museum liberated us from copying things too slavishly. Again, it was a very successful show, and understandably generated a lot of interest from Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors. As a result many of the shows included an introduction (or post-show discussion) from survivors. It also led to a tour of the USA in 2004. We used a new US cast, with the exception of Jonny Quick, a regular performer and maker with Horse + Bamboo, who had also been in the UK production. Alison’s ‘In The Heart of the Beast’ contacts in Minneapolis were invaluable, and she went back to the USA in order to direct the show and its subsequent tour.
A hypnotic theatre piece, rich with dream-like imagery. “Company of Angels” achieves a delicate balancing act. Salomon’s story is undeniably sad but it also manages to highlight those moments where the artist experienced genuine happiness. ~ Big Issue Review (UK)
Thank you so much for your marvellous and creative performance…The whole show was amazing and spoke evocatively about Charlotte’s paintings. Wonderful. ~ Professor Lesley Ferris, Chair of Theater, Ohio State University
[Company of Angels] is one of the most magic, sweet, profound and qualitative performances I’ve seen…. Combining the cruelty of the reality of a war, with the magic of the innocent world of a child, you spoke right to my heart…. It was so excellent, I almost forgot that the heads were masks! ~ Nassia Choleva, Exeter University (UK)
COMPANY OF ANGELS: BOB FRITH/ALISON DUDDLE (dir), NICKY FEARN, JILL PENNY, KATHY KIM, ANDREW KIM, LOZ KAYE (m), JONNY QUICK, VICTORIA LEE