Philippe Genty's Voyages to Nowhere

After over 20 years, Philippe Genty brought another production Voyageurs Immobiles (Voyagers to Nowhere) to Singapore, as part of the French Festival Singapore 2012. This should be his second visit to Singapore, the first for the Singapore Arts Festival in the late 80s. 

I also caught his earlier work Derives at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1990, its visual and sensual elements still lingered in my mind.


The visual theatre piece started with a group of people, coming out one by one from a platform, boarded a vessel on choppy waters were washed ashore. And their adventure began.

Their journey could take on different meaning - creation of mankind, war, economy, greed, killing, love.  While we may not understand everything, the production keep us enthralled.  Here the actors and collaborators did a great job in creating a dream scape where the audience were immersed in their journey.  The used of puppetry was clever, in particular the segment where the puppet was dressed in business suit.  The actors did not have lines, but occassionally they broke out in songs. Who knew that pieces of paper could be used in different ways.  And the lighting design was beautiful! 

It's great to see this company again.  Let's hope that it will make a return visit soon. An enjoyable performance!