Details

Extraordinary, intense, complex and ultimately rewarding, Land Without Words asks the question - How can Art attempt to reflect, represent or respond to the ravages of war? A western painter and sculptor (in a compelling a performance by Lucy Ellinson) returns from a middle eastern conflict, shocked by her experiences and trying to create new work through Mark Rothko-like abstracts. Words and artists materials - paint, clay - become the tools of the play. The rhythms and textures of language are crystallized into vivid and sensuous visual imagery. A poetic text is witness both to the horrors of conflict and the need we all have to retell these stories through words and images. War meets art in this intimate parable. Lucy Ellinson performs this one woman show, the first full UK production of a work by Dea Loher. She takes the role of a painter seeking the perfect artistic image, until experiencing the horrors of war leads her to reconsider the value of any artistic activity, as well as the awkward relationship of Western preconceptions with current Eastern war zones. In the end she can only ask: what about joy? Land Without Words is a work of poetic realism, drawing on interviews with the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, and Loher's own reflections about her experiences of Kabul.

Creatives/Company

Author: Dea Loher