Looking for novel Orlandos

Ahead of their show in Bengaluru on Feb 2 and 3, Julie Beauvais speaks about ‘Orlandos’ of today, inspirations from Virginia Woolf’s novel and how the show reinvents itself every time 
A still from the show of  one of the ‘Orlandos’
A still from the show of  one of the ‘Orlandos’

BENGALURU: Performer, director and curator Julie Beauvais looks for an Orlando in every corner of the world. Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, a feminist novel about an androgynous figure, which explores the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. Organised and performed by the New Paradigm Opera, the show, choreographed by Beauvais, found the roots of its creation in many parts of the world, including Berlin, Kinshasa, Marfa, London, Varanasi, Lisboa, Chandolin, Patagonia and the North Sea. 

Currently on tour in India, Orlando has been staged in Manipur, and will soon have its Bengaluru performance on February 2 and 3, at Max Mueller Bhavan - Goethe-Insitut India, Indiranagar. The show is free, and the India tour is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and Canton du Valais. 

Beauvais mentions that Orlando has been on the tour for five years now. “We created the project over two years all around the world. The process of its creation itself has been a long one. We first had a European tour and then went to South America. Currently, we are touring India, and next, we will go to Africa,” says Beauvais.

While sharing the same name and taking inspiration from it, Beauvais’ Orlando and Woolf’s Orlando are separate entities. “The original novel is less about gender and more about being a precursor to complex identities. That is what I feel is happening to the world right now. We are becoming increasingly complex individually and collectively. We were not looking to tell the story of that book, but instead, we were interested in meeting the ‘Orlandos’ of today.

To find out about these people who were inspiring their communities and families. They don’t have to be artistes. Just regular people who have opened vast horizons. We stayed with each ‘Orlando’ for one month, where we created one movement and filmed the result with each of them,” she shares, adding that among some of the ‘Orlandos’ they found included an old woman in Varanasi. 

The show promises to reinvent itself with every performance. For instance, wherever they tour, they take the help of the local carpenters to rebuild their set and invite local sound artistes to help them connect all the elements, which Beauvais feels is the most important element to the installation of an opera. For their show in Bengaluru, they are going to be working with city-based musician and composer Yashas Shetty.

“We invite a local artiste to be in dialogue with the installation. It is different each time. For example, in our shows in Manipur, the musicscape was calm and visceral. But it’s going to be different in Bengaluru. From what I can tell from the sound propositions, it’s going to be more electronic and urban,” says Beauvais. 

Originally, the full version of Orlando contained seven screens, and the musicians sat in the middle. The audience could either sit with the musicians or look at the whole thing from the outside. “Ever since Covid happened, the transportation costs have been crazy. Hence, we had to organise adapted versions of the show in our India tour. In Bengaluru, it’s going to be only one screen containing all the different movements, and Shetty will be in the space interacting with them all. Around the installation, we are going to set up the workshops (to be held in the afternoon) and talks (after the show),” concludes Beauvais.

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