Out Of Blixen
(This is a past event and is no longer running)
Created by Riotous Company
Co-produced with Print Room at the Coronet
A brand new stage production from Riotous Company, an international collective of artists known for creating playful and unexpected performances that blend physical, aerial, and traditional theatre with storytelling, live music, poetry, dance and striking imagery.
Out of Blixen is inspired by the life and writings of author Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen) widely remembered through Meryl Streep’s portrayal in the Oscar winning film, Out of Africa, Blixen’s memoir of her time in Kenya. Few people know the complex woman behind the myth who wrote some of the most daring Danish fiction of the twentieth century.
Led by artistic director Mia Theil Have, Out of Blixen unites Olivier Award-winning actor and director Kathryn Hunter, who has worked with Complicte, Peter Brook, Robert Lepage, RSC, National Theatre, Royal Court, Peter Greenaway and Mike Leigh; Marcello Magni, Complicite co-founder and pioneer of physical theatre; dramaturg and writer Paul Tickell who also produces and directs dramas, films and documentaries (including South Bank Show and Arena); composer Nikola Kodjabashia, an eminent representative of the East European musical avant-garde whose scores include Sir Peter Hall’s Bacchai and productions at Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre, Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre and Young Vic; and Femi Elufowoju jr, actor and director and founder of Tiata Fahodzi, who’s extensive stage work includes seasons at the Royal Court, National Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Royal Exchange, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Soho Theatre and designer Luis F. Carvalho whose designs have been seen at Sadler’s Wells, La Scala Milan, Royal Albert Hall and Opera Nacional du Rhin.
Blixen’s identities were manifold: baroness, celebrity, owner of a Kenyan coffee plantation, lion hunter, fashion icon, but above all, storyteller. Karen Blixen’s stories are both comic and tragic, by turns cruel, erotic and violent. She was a sublime interrogator of the human heart, of love in all its manifestations – maternal, adolescent, carnal and divine.
For more information: www.riotouscompany.co.uk/blixen