Jack in the TSF Box

Lipsynch in Quebec City, Canada 3-5th June 2011

Lipsynch is appearing at the Festival du Carrefour International de Théâtre. Its Director, Marie Gignac, was an early collaborator in our creative team. We are to play three consecutive days, amounting to three 12-hour days, never before achieved so there is a buzz of interest as to whether we can last the pace.

We play in an ice hockey arena in a suburb of the city on the edge of town. Even the driver can't find it to begin with. The technicians joke that it is Opera à Vanier, which might equate to Brixton, Castlemilk or Longbenton. The vast interior of the hockey pitch and bucket seats has been transformed into our usual theatre dimensions set in a black box of curtains. The dressing rooms are the real thing: they have a whiff of adrenalin, sweat and shouting coaches. Rick gives us his version of a typical pep talk to get us into gear.

Strange to return to QC after three years touring when so much time was spent devising Lipsynch here with the team in Robert's La Caserne, his ex-fire station where research and development from film to opera still goes on. It's also ten years since Robert invited Sarah and I to see the space and mentioned the possibility of us being in a show he called 'Lipsynch'.

Thomas Michelle Marie:

Hans Piesbergen has just finished filming in Quebec his segment - 'Thomas' - of the projected film of Lipsynch. We look forward to seeing footage of some of the shots on Robert's computer. The film maker Pedro Pires, who had his film Danse Macabre at Newcastle's Film & Media Festival, has a fine eye for composition, tone and atmosphere and makes our actors from 'Thomas', 'Marie' and 'Michelle' look fabulous. This is no Hollywood stuff. The characters look grainy, real and moving. Another episode 'Michelle' will be shown in Berlin as part of a Court Metrage festival and later all three excerpts (including 'Marie') will be presented as one film.

Show well received with full houses of 750 odd each night. We receive news we will definitely play Melbourne next summer. Great news, but sad not to see the team now for another year.

That's all for now. I'll be touring with Les Aventures de Lapin later in the month, having taken over from Jack Burton. More of that later!

John