Swansong

Question 1

Choreographer, costume designer and set designer

Answer 1

Christopher Bruce

Question 2

Dance style

Answer 2

Contemporary, with physical contact and some balletic movements. Includes references to social and theatrical dance.

Question 3

Choreographic style

Answer 3

Episodic, dramatic, thematic

Question 4

Theme

Answer 4

Human rights; prisoner of conscience

Question 5

Starting point

Answer 5

The work of Amnesty International; saying goodbye to a career as a dancer; the experiences of Chilean poet Victor Jara and the novel, A man, by Oriana Fallaci

Question 6

Dancers

Answer 6

3 dancers, normally male

Question 7

Composer

Answer 7

Philip Chambon

Question 8

Accompaniment

Answer 8

Electro-acoustic with digitally sampled sounds, vocals, a reed pipe and popular dance rhythms. Unaccompanied interludes enable us to hear the tapping of feet. The score for the more lyrical solos by the victim includes the sound of a reed pipe.

Question 9

Lighting designer

Answer 9

David Mohr

Question 10

Costume

Answer 10

Everyday clothes associated with roles- uniforms for the interrogators and jeans and T-shirt for the victim. Interrogators also wear baseballs caps and the victim wears a clown’s red nose in one section.

Question 11

Lighting

Answer 11

Overhead lighting and a diagonal shaft of light to suggest natural light from upstage left. Footlights create shadows. Atmospheric. Overhead lighting focuses on the area of the chair during interrogation and when the victim is alone.

Question 12

Set

Answer 12

Black box setting. Bare stage except for a chair, suggests a cell. Interrogators always exit stage right suggesting a single door. The chair has many purposes and is used symbolically as a weapon, a shield and shackles.