In his grandest creation to date, "boundary-smashing" (The Guardian, UK) artist James Thierrée returns to BAM with Tabac Rouge, a "choreodrama" that pits nine dancers/acrobats (including Thierrée) against an array of machinery, trellises, tarnished mirrors, and tchotchkes to take the audience deep into the dark world of a decrepit tyrant.
The salt-and-pepper-haired ruler, played by Thierrée, lords over this glooming dystopia from his banged-up swivel chair cum throne. His retinue scampers, somersaults, twirls, and dances around the stage, hanging themselves on the trellis, moving the huge sets around. Are they obeying him or mocking him? Is he a King Lear or a Prospero driven mad by his creative impulse? Are they squatters in a junkyard or is this a world of his imagining? Tabac Rouge's world is mysterious, unsettling, and visually stunning.
In creating this world, James Thierrée said he delved "deep into the under-under-world of my artistic search. It is an exploration of power, desire, systems, and mechanisms of societies." The Guardian commented that this production "sees Thierrée edging away from circus towards dance."
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