Invisible Lands

– a   g e o g r a p h i c a l   s t r i p t e a s e –

Across the desert, behind our back. Up the mountain, down our spine. Over the sea, just under our nose. On the day the war broke out, we left home.

Geography and politics are physically extended and transformed into organic performance platforms – our bodies – and we learn what touch, presence, and endurance really are about.  With Invisible Lands, the visual theatre duo Livsmedlet challenges themselves in a unique meeting between puppetry and choreography.

Invisible Lands has premiered 2015 and has been since then performing in Finland, Estonia, Poland, France, sweden, Slovenia, Germany, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Denmark. In the coming months the show will continue to perform in Germany, France as well as in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, Lithuania and Canada.
Invisible Lands won the Festival’s Director’s prize in the Banialuka festival in Poland 2018, and a prize for “Intimate artistic grasp of current theme” in Spectaculo Interesse festival in Czech Republic, 2019.
From the review:

“Best of all is Invisible Lands (★★★★★) by Finland’s Livsmedlet Theatre. It’s the story of refugees, represented by tiny figures, like the population of a model railway, delicate and vulnerable as they flee their war-ravaged home. What makes the show extraordinary is the path they travel. Every mountain pass, snowy outcrop, desert expanse and night-time highway is created by the bodies of Ishmael Falke and Sandrina Lindgren.

The performers take turns to bare their flesh as the figures line up for their perilous journey. Falke’s back becomes their escape route from a smoking village; Lindgren’s stomach, painted blue, is the sea to Europe; knees turn into hill tops, feet form the rendezvous for a bus. The pulses of the performers breathe life into the models as they queue at border crossings, flee helicopters and crowd on to boats. It’s masterfully done, the combination of physical effort and contrasting scale making the wordless tale devastatingly sad. – The Guardian, 8.2.2019

Concept, direction and performance: Ishmael Falke and Sandrina Lindgren

Sound and Music: Niklas Nybom

Light design: Jarkko Forsman

 

Tour agenda 2020:

27-28 Jun: Harstad, Norway

20-25 Jun: Stuttgart, Germany

29 Apr: Maintz, Germany

3-4 Apr: Nantes, France

21 Mar: Dresden, Germany

20 Mar: Frankfurt, Germany

18-19 Mar: Eschborn, Germany

17 Mar: Rüsselheim, Germany

12 Mar: Dreieck, Germany

5-7 Mar: Montreal, Canada

26-27 Feb: Trois-Rivieres, Canada

9 Feb: Munich, Germany

7 Feb: Mannheim, Germany

6 Feb: Stuttgart, Germany

4 Feb: Heilbronn, Germany

30 Jan: Cernay, France

17 Jan: Vilnius, Lithuania

2019:

21 Dec: Skopje, Macedonia

14 Nov: Bretigny, France

12-13 Nov: Schaan, Liechtenstein

9-10 Nov: Neuchatel, Switzerland

7-8 Nov: Zürich, Switzerland

4-6 Nov: Rijeka, Kroatia

29-31 Oct: Potsdam, Germany

26 Oct: Braunschweig, Germany

1-2 Oct: Ostrava, Czech Republic

28-29 Sep: Basel, Switzerland

1-3 Aug: Mirepoix, France

22 Jun: Düsseldorf, Germany

1 Jun: Fürth, Germany

29-30 May: Erlangen, Germany

28 May: Nürnberg, Germany

25-26 May: Århus, Denmark

21-23 May: Lisbon, Portugal

16-17 May: Segovia, Spain

29-30 Mar: Parma, Italy

26-27 Mar: Malakoff, France

24 Mar: Bagneux, France

23 Mar: Chatenay, France

16 Mar: Clamart, France

15 Mar: Chatillon, France

5 Mar: Hasselt, Belgium

8 Feb: Perth, Scotland

7 Feb: Paisley, Scotland

6 Feb: Edinburgh, Scotland

1-2 Feb: Mulhouse, France

 

Livsmedlet Theatre webpage