Arriving at the venue, windswept from the most recent of storms, I initiated myself to manipulate with this ‘snapshot: artists @ work’. An accessible and encouraging strand to the festival, the shorter works in progress allow for audience engagement with a piece in an early stage of its development.
One performer is ready to go as we enter the room: Laura Wooff is dressed in contemporary military gear and sits atop piles of paper. When we are stationed in the seating bank she elegantly folds two paper planes and childishly puppeteers their flights to hummed renditions of Les Marseilles and God Save The Queen. This introduction is strong however the comparison of the hundred years war with contemporary conflicts is lost a little further into the work. The use of paper folding however, is a strong plot device with plenty of potential for development returning throughout the play.
A second performer slightly confuses the action as the two present forms of Joan. Playing with language, French, Italian and hints of sign languages, the difference between the two persona is not quite pronounced enough at this stage to warrant the split, however both performers deliver impressive deliveries of text, a mix of verbatim and creative writing.
The paper returns in a visually stunning image of an origami sword unfolded, questioning the nature of force and violence. Again the crumpling of the same page foreshadows the burning of the lead character in chilling subtlety.
Images such as these show great potential for the completed work and both actors delivered rich and energetic performances. Overall, the event was an engaging look into the ideas and concepts of this work in progress.
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