Wayn Traub: Maria-Magdalena

The best things come in threes. At least, that’s what fans of Wayn Traub will be hoping as the experimental theatre-maker returns to Scotland this fortnight with the third and final instalment in his Wayn Wash trilogy. Maria-Magdalena is cut from the same holy cloth as earlier works, Maria-Dolores and Jean-Baptiste, in its layering of text, music, film, dance and performance to create an ingenious theatrical collage. Traub calls this technique ‘cinema-opera’.

‘I always knew I could combine real movie with actors on stage,’ he says. ‘The opera part is related to the way of acting of my actors and me. They sing, dance, act in a more baroque way. It’s not opera but it is influenced by it. I liked the idea of combining old art with new.’ Traub, who originally trained as a filmmaker and also worked as a professional dancer, developed his oeuvre out of frustration with existing practices combining multi-media with performance. ‘I liked the idea of performing in front of a public because I believed in the ritual idea of art,’ he says. ‘In a ritual the public is needed. At the same time, I saw a lot of theatre where movie projection was used and I was disappointed in the way it was used. So I believed I could do something about that.’

Traub is particularly excited about this stripped-down new piece. ‘This performance is darker, better made, more original and more dangerous. I’m alone on stage, that’s also a big difference. It makes it more personal.’

Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 4–Sat 6 Jun

More: Theatre, Previews (Theatre), Experimental Theatre, Maria-Magdalena, Opera, Tramway, Wayn Wash, Wayne Traub

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