Becoming Berenice
An elelctro-music tragedy in verse
A new translation by Rosie Hilal.
Musically translated into 12-beat verse by a young woman of multiple cultures, this version of an iconic French play by Jean Racine boasts an original electronic music score by Tomas Wolstenholme.
Previewed as part of the Voila! Europe festival in 2018, with movement by Jenn Kay and Jose Triguero, and an international cast and team spanning 13 cultures.
'a very witty, graceful and speakable text, capable of holding big passions'
Dominic Dromgoole
THANK YOU
January 2020
A huge thank you to our audience, our followers, our supporters, and to all our cast and team during Voila:
Artistic director, translator, exec producer - Rosie Hilal
Composer & MD- Tomas Wolstenholme
Director - David Furlong
Assistant Producers - Fanny Dulin, Phil Morris, Amber Savva, Kai-Gene Meisenhauer
Movement - Jenn Kay
Choreography - Jose Triguero
Costume - Charlie Baptist
Make-up - Kyla LaGrange
Lighting and Tech - Berta Pibernat-Trias
Cast -
Cindy-Jane Armbruster - Phenice
Ariane Barnes - Arsace
Amanda Maud - Paulin
Matt Franco - Antiochus
Rosie Hilal - Berenice
Sam Lawrence - Titus
For a full list of thank yous to everyone who has helped develop the show, please go to our facebook page (Theatre Forge) or check out our social media.
Becoming Berenice at Voila! Europe festival 2018
Oct 2018
Selling out three nights at the spacious Applecart Arts venue in East London we delighted new audiences, French and otherwise. Videos of audience responses can be found on our facebook page and social media! We have had interest from other venues and are exploring funding opportunities (as the show is large for a fringe production and we operate an Equity Contract policy). We are looking to publish the script along with a full run very soon!
Longfield Hall rehearsals and RADA industry sharing
Summer 2018
Lloyd Trott and Rada development kindly lent us their space for a staged reading of Becoming Berenice which was well attended by industry and academics from the French department of Cambridge University. The translation was well received and further development encouraged. We thank all the actors involved on our facebook page (search Theatre Forge)!
Women At RADA reading
October 2017
We were recently and suddenly asked to fill a slot in a Women at Rada reading, as part of their Women at Rada 100 plays for women, written for or by women, to prove that these plays exist in their plenty. Lucy Sheen, Sadie Clarke, Vivienne Gibbs, Jordan Mifsud and Gary Merry all rehearsed and performed this beautifully, and I got to read Berenice, which was a life's ambition. I loved it, although it was rather short notice and nerve racking, and most people in the audience had been invited by my boyfriend...
Berenice Workshop Week 2
August 2017
Lloyd Trott and Ed Kemp very kindly offered to help me develop the script and play further this year. Ed Kemp has himself translated and put on a Racine play at Rada and so will be a great mentor to have on this project. We share the same passion! RADA studios kindly welcomed us and we culminated a week's hard graft of working through the entire play with three hoops and a scarf with a staggered, staged read-through at the end of the week. Alex Guelff, Pia de la Borde, Rebecca Scroggs, Olivia Vinall and even my lovely Mum joined the FORGE crew as new members. They helped me hear and see the whole thing out loud. It was a week of exploring the abstract movement and physical relationships of the characters.
Circumpherence Theatre Space - Workshop 1
August 2017
Very kindly my friend and writer/actress/comedian Vera Chok put me in touch with a wonderful set of people in a temporary rehearsal space in King's Cross: Aislinn Mulligan and her collegues at Circumference (www.circumference.org.uk). I was lucky enough to help them set up their space and in return both see their very delicate and fun Glastonbury show 'Staged' and also borrow the use of their space while they were away. This meant I could explore the physical language of my version of Berenice further, with some wonderful actor friends: Imogen Daines, Viv Gibbs, Will Wolfe-Hogan and Cindy-Jane Armbruster. My aunt Rachel Alston gave us a yoga lesson as a treat for the hard working actors and the whole week was mind-blowingly lovely- both in weather and in work.
