The Resurfacing Problem

Despite my repeated efforts, I rarely manage to be understood with the required accuracy, and am ceaselessly thwarted by outside circumstances. Whatever these obstacles may be – a noisy truck passing by, interference on the phone line, the acoustics of a room – words become scrambled and communication becomes difficult and imprecise.
In a world where high tech communications tools are commonplace, the three performers of The Resurfacing Problem find their attempts to speak continually disrupted and interrupted by sounds from the very tools designed to improve communication. With their words tangled and distorted, mutual understanding is hard to come by, misunderstandings abound and some things are completely lost in translation.
These performances are the culmination of a residency at Toynbee Studios, during which Grand Magasin has spent four weeks developing and adapting their newest work, The Resurfacing Problem for a UK audience, as part of the Paris Calling season.
Formed in 1982, Grand Magasin, made up of artists Pascale Murtin, François Hiffler and more recently Bettina Atala, specialises in ‘making theatre out of nothing’. The company has created more than 30 works, touring in France, Europe and further afield, but this will be their first visit to the UK.
Credits:
Presented by Artsadmin as part of Paris Calling. Co-produced by Grand Magasin, IRCAM/Les Spectacles vivants-Centre Pompidou. Supported by Centre Culturel André Malraux, Scène Nationale de Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, Artsadmin through the French Embassy in UK’s Paris Calling season and CulturesFrance. Grand Magasin is subsidised by the Ministry of Culture (D.R.A.C. Ile de France) and by the Conseil Général du Val-de-Marne.