Éonnagata

When I was on my Air France flight to India I read in the in-flight magazine that Robert Le Page was performing in a show in Paris, and it ends on the 9th of January. So today I went and stood outside the theatre with a shitty little sign I scribbled on the back of a receipt (a lot of people frowned at this) saying "Je Cherche 2 Billets" - one for me and one for Andre. Unfortunately only one at the price we were looking for (15€) was offered, so Andre kindly let me take it.

The show was called Éonnagata, performed at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, by Sylvie Guillem, Robert Lepage and Russell Maliphant.

It had a Japanese aesthetic to it. Lots of samurai.

Really cool bony costumes.

Nice very simple moments - some dance, some theatre, some a bit of both.

I was surprised by just how simple a lot of it was - in a really good way. It was clear that the work had come from play. e.g. With a table. We can slide on it like this, this and this... We can slide under it like this... We can slide at the same time on it like this... etc.

It was visually spectacular. Great bold, clear lighting, that moved in blocks with the performers.

Two simple things I liked:

• The moment of horse riding when the two men held wooden sticks on their shoulders, one behind each other, and then the woman hopped up and sat on the sticks. The men walked forwards and in sync and we heard the sound of horse hooves. Fun and clear.

• A song - a little ditty - sung with just the accompaniment of a long single chord of a bag pipe. The performer can sing all around it, and still be heard very clearly. And the feeling of it takes me into Britain/Scotland - an almost Medieval time - which I'm really interested in the moment. Slowly collecting lots of ideas and images for a show I want to make eventually... I liked the ridiculous big puffy velvet King outfits too. And the hooded figures.

The production was really slick and playful and clear. I really enjoyed it. Admittedly, I went for the Robert Le Page factor.

Robert Le Page

And so the production was exciting for me just because a very famous and incredible theatre maker was performing (the other two dancers are also well respected, although I didn't know about them). Regardless, it was a great production.