What is ‘At Broken Bridge’?
Click on the video below to hear from Jasmine & Elisabeth
Camden People’s Theatre, London UK. May 2022.
THE TEAM
creator and performer
A Hong Kong-Canadian maker, movement artist, actor, and engaged practitioner, Jasmine tells stories which explore diasporic identity through close, interdisciplinary collaborations. As a contemporary dance artist she’s worked with Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan, Chase Brock, and has collaborated with Turner Prize nominated artist Anthea Hamilton, amongst others. Credits include: ‘Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise’ (The Shed, NYC), ‘Wild’ (Unicorn Theatre), 'The Squash' (Tate Britain), 'VORTEX' (Epidemic, Paris), ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (Universal Pictures). Jasmine’s a Choreodrome Artist 2021 at The Place and has previously been commissioned by Pegasus Theatre Oxford.
director and co-deviser
A Chinese Indonesian actor, maker and performer, Betty’s work explores the naked encounter between performer and audience. She is particularly drawn to transgression and contradictions, using blasphemy and myth to explore stories that go beyond the horizontal line of human drama to the vertical line of heaven and hell. She has worked as a performer and deviser with the David Glass Ensemble, Flabbergast Theatre and Ad Infinitum. Her solo bouffon piece Unforgettable Girl, co-produced with Created a Monster won the OFFFest award at VOILA! Festival. For the period of 2021-2022, she is a resident artist at the Grotowski Institute.
composer and sound design
A multi-disciplinary artist and composer. With a background in fine art and sound art, their body of work finds profundity in subtlety and the banal, translated into abstracted sonic and visual languages. Their musical work, which polarises between tranquil and minimalist, and abrasive and harsh, frequently incorporates found objects, theremins, tapes, field recordings, modular synths, and the guqin. Raised by a Buddhist nun, Li’s work is strongly influenced by the Eastern ideologies of emptiness, zen, and transience. Being on the autistic spectrum, Li’s sensory processing issues and neurodivergent perceptions significantly informs their creative process, and their work can be perceived as a product of this navigation.
set, costume, projection design
An interactive artist, set and costume designer and scenographer from China. Erin is currently exploring and developing works revolving around social affairs and her cultural identity. She is currently reading a master’s in design for Performance and Interaction at Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Her recent theatre projects include, Freedom Hi, Papergang Theatre, devising interactive performance Money Funny Sunny, Cheeky Chin TC, touring musical Tokyo Rose, Burnt Lemon Theatre.
puppet design and direction
A theatre practitioner, puppeteer and puppet maker originally from Japan. The unique style she has cultivated within the field is distinctly recognisable in the productions she has been part of, including adaptations of traditional Western fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel (Horse+Bamboo Theatre, 2016), as well as Japanese literary classics like AKUTAGAWA Ryunosuke’s The Spider’s Thread (Rouge28 Theatre, 2020). Challenging our assumptions of what a puppet is, NAKAMURA works with a variety of mediums to produce puppets made in the paper theatre style, puppets constructed of everyday objects, and human-sized Bunraku-style dolls.
light design
A dance and light artist who wishes to amalgamate and fuse these two mediums. As a lighting designer collaborating within the field of dance, he is interested in creating a visual mood and environment. Sensitively giving space, allowing ambiguity, manipulation and heightening the use of all senses. Joshua has had the opportunity to design lights and collaborate with Mark Baldwin, Julie Cunningham, Kerry Nichols, Arielle Smith, Fraser Buchanan, Richard Chappell Dance, Mthuthuzeli November, amongst others.
producers
Ellandar Productions is a British East and Southeast Asian (BESEA) led theatre company who prioritise platforming work by and about British Southeast Asians.
Focussing on diverse British Muslim narratives, BESEA lived experience, and female stories, their aim is to bring new audiences from different cultural roots into the theatre. Through their plays, they offer a window into unknown and rarely seen worlds. They bring characters and stories that are deeply human and recognisable centre stage.
Other Credits:
Stage Manager: Rose Hockaday
Artist Wellbeing Supervisors: Artist Wellbeing Company
Key Artwork: Sara Tamby Lim
Artwork Photography: Riccardo Servini
Rehearsal & Production Photography: Morgan Sinclair, Alexander Stagg, Leonie Spilsbury
AT BROKEN BRIDGE
CAMDEN PEOPLE’S THEATRE, 4 & 5 MAY 2022
May-June is getting married, and she needs a Woman of Good Fortune to bless the ceremonies. Unfortunately, her mother is far from lucky. Twelve years ago, after being tormented by the voices in her head and a mysterious girl in red, she disappeared into her bedroom and never emerged again.
At Broken Bridge explores the relentless attachment between a mother and a child, the irresistible call of the past, and the internal landscape of migration and exile. As both Mother and Daughter struggle to reintegrate their fractured selves, they meet at each end of a broken bridge and question: How can we love those who are worlds apart from us?
Made possible with funding from Arts Council England, and The Place as part of Choreodrome; alongside additional rehearsal space support from Studio Wayne McGregor, Space Clarence Mews, Unicorn Theatre, and New Diorama Theatre.