IMAGO Theatre
La Belle: Lost in the World of the Automaton Sunday, November 12, 2017 3PM • Jackson Hall
ABOUT La Belle: Lost in the World of the Automaton Based on the story Beauty and the Beast written by French novelist GabrielleSuzanne Bardot de Villeneuve in 1740, IMAGO Theatre has imagined a new fairytale experience that mixes Beauty and the Beast with steampunk aesthetics and automata. Set to the backdrop of a whimsical ship, La Belle tells the love story of the crew’s coal stoker and a woman passenger, who, after seeking refuge from a storm, finds herself in an engine room full of mechanized figures brought to life by the stoker himself. A multitude of puppets, shadows and over 100 effects are at the center of the work, with only two human characters.
ABOUT IMAGO Theatre Founded in 1979 by Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouawad, IMAGO Theatre’s methodology is based on the teachings of Jacques Lecoq (1921–1999) aiming to place form and design at the forefront of theatre creation. Their original productions have toured internationally for over two decades. Their signature works, FROGZ and ZooZoo, have appeared at the acclaimed New Victory Theater on Broadway in New York. The universal nature of IMAGO Theatre’s world has won audience and critical acclaim in tours across Asia, Europe, Canada and the United States. Working out of a large theatre laboratory in Portland, Oregon, IMAGO Theatre’s ensemble of actors, dancers, designers, fabricators and musicians become alchemists seeking fresh perspectives on performance. The company has been honored for mask theatre pieces that have appealed to a wide age range, as well as for innovative works that push the boundaries of form, design and story.
LEARN MORE: IMAGO Theatre website La Belle video A special thanks to Mondavi Center Arts Education for helping us welcome our youngest audience members.
ABOUT THE AUTOMATON An automaton (plural: automata) is a machine designed to operate by itself. This word was first used by Homer to describe automatic door opening. It is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the cuckoo on a clock. Some of the earliest self-regulating machines were built to explain the movements of the heavens. Beginning in the 14th century, European clockmakers constructed clocks and other complex astronomical tools. Clocks were compared to the inner workings of humans, which led to the idea of the robot, or mechanized human. Controlled by elaborate mechanical ‘cams’—a sort of machine-memory that preceded computers— these mechanical people performed many remarkable tasks, from writing short poems and drawing pictures to performing music. An early version of an automaton in the form of a human was built by Henri Maillardet, a Swiss clockmaker who lived in London in the early 1800s. His “DraughtsmanWriter”—an early version of what we know as a robot—could produce four drawings and three poems (two in French and one in English) by “memory.” Automata demonstrated mankind’s efforts to imitate life by mechanical means. They are fascinating examples of the intersection of art and science.
Brian Selznick’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which was made into a movie, Hugo) features an automaton that is very much like the one created by Henri Maillardet. Vist here to see a website with other automata and lots of amazing mechanical wonders. Visit here to make your own automaton.
THINK ABOUT IT: ❶ Describe what you heard in the performance. Did you hear sounds that made you think of a ship?
❷ What are some automata items that you see everyday in your house? ❸ Have you read The Invention of Hugo Cabret or seen the movie Hugo?
What did you notice was similar about the characters in La Belle? What was different?
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