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AGNES B |
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Chosen by Victoria's Belfry Theatre as the recipient of their INCUBATOR Award Program. To premiere March 2010, as part of the SPARK Festival, Belfry Theatre, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada MARCH 9-13, 2010 The Belfry Theatre presents Agnes BWritten and Directed by David Ferguson Starring Musical Director Cathy Fern Lewis AGNES B is an original Suddenly Dance Theatre production inspired by the life of cabaret singer and actress Agnes Bernelle (1923-1999). Agnes Bernelle used a quote from Gertrude Stein -- "Everything is so dangerous that nothing is really frightening" -- to introduce her memoirs, The Fun Palace (1996). Her own life - a life interrupted by war – surpassed the plots of the films and plays in which she appeared. Torn between cultural, familial, and religious allegiances, torn even between the demands of motherhood and her career on the stage, Bernelle saw her life as a kind of fair-ground fun-house, full of unexpected twists, disorienting new environments, inevitable pratfalls, and an exhilarating slide down to rescue at the end. From her escape from Nazi Germany, to the controversy of becoming the first ‘non-stationary’ nude on the English stage, to her associations with Orson Welles, Winston Churchill and The Rolling Stones, Agnes Bernelle became a cult figure known as an early multi-media pioneer, who worked in radio, dance, theatre, film, television and cabaret. Agnes Bernelle eventually found her own place as an artist in Ireland, by embracing the theatrical tradition she had for so long tried to relegate to the past: the satirical cabaret-song of her father Rudolph Bernauer, her childhood, her roots in Berlin.
We’d like to especially thank ALLISON PIANO for their beautiful pianos used for AGNES B rehearsals and performances; and to Keith and Catherine Allison, for their support.
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