Lisa Simonis talks to Lewis Major and Clementine Benson about their upcoming shows.
I think it was really quite life-changing for not just the audience members but the performers
Well, obviously, you've made it! How does it feel to be at the Edinburgh Fringe?
Lewis: It feels kind of unreal at the moment. But we've done everything we can, and now it's just getting an audience in front of it.
Tell us about the origins of the show.
Lewis: We made Lien during COVID. Everyone was heading back to their hometowns and I had all these dancers suddenly around but no way of making work. We had a few things, like we made an outdoor drive-in dance show, and then I thought: ‘We really want to be back in the theatre having an intimate experience with people’. We managed to convince the theatre that we could use their space, but they were only allowing one person in at a time. It was a kind of an antidote to that time when I think everyone was feeling very distanced and very isolated. And this was the perfect encapsulation of bringing people back together, one audience member and one performer having this intimate exchange on an empty stage, which was again sort of a symbol of what we were going through back then. I think it was really quite life-changing for not just the audience members but the performers, so we've developed it, and it's a really beautiful little piece that we like to take around the world.
In Lien, there is just one audience member and a performer; it's quite unique. Is it choreographed, or is it improv?
Lewis: It is structured, and it has choreographed sections, but it’s really up to the performer and the conversation that happens before that with the audience member, so there is a structure, but I wouldn't say it's quite enough. It's really a performance that only happens once, so the performer is responding to the conversation that unfolded beforehand with the audience member, so it's a really unique, bespoke little performance. Five or six minutes.
So, as a dancer, how does it feel to go into a performance like that?
Clementine: It's really different to what we usually do. To have such a personal connection to your audience member is just very different to what I usually do. So, once again, it's just it's a bit overwhelming, to begin with, but then you settle into it, and it is really special and can feel really affirming and intimate, I guess. It's a lot more personal than what I would usually do on stage, and it’s just really special. That’s something I don't get to do.
What do you expect or want audiences to take away from the experience?
Clementine: The main aim is to be able to connect. What I would want them to take away from it or what I would hope is just a connection with another person in a really special way or even just a simple connection with someone.
Any shows or people you’re looking forward to seeing and meeting this Fringe?
Lewis: We've really been incredibly grateful to be supported by Georgie Black and House of Oz, who's really underwritten the entire tour. We couldn't be here without her and what she does. Michaela Burger’s show The State of Grace, Yozi’s No Babies in the Sauna. Gravity and Other Myths have a show called Ten Thousand Hours. It's a big program! I'm out there to support other folk. So, looking forward to that during the day, not at night, because we've got shows every single night of the Fringe except Mondays.
