AMONG the library of pictures from the Actors of Dionysus's days in York is one of actress Tamsin Shasha swinging on gymnastic bars like a cat.
The year was 2000, and Tamsin was playing the shape-shifting, mind-bending Dionysus, the god of thunder storms and fecundity that gave the Greek theatre specialists their name.
Actors of Dionysus packed their bags for Brighton two years later, after eight years in York, but have retained links with the city, and on Tuesday Tamsin will be in even more acrobatic form at the Theatre Royal.
Not Bacchae this time but Bacchic, and not metal bars but a long, long rope, as AOD's artistic director presents a solo show that really can be described as gripping theatre.
Her new aerial theatre show was inspired by The Bacchae, Euripides's tale of rejection and revenge, in an exploration of the conflict between a modern-day icon, Suergaz, and a staunch academic, Professor Madelaine Kempton.
Tamsin has certainly spread her wings since leaving York.
advertisement
"I got involved with Circus Space at a converted combustion chamber/generator at Hoxton, in London's East End," she says. "I first went there once a week in 2003/2004 and did one of those introductory courses with tumbling, acrobatics and static trapeze, and it just said to me this has to be'. There I was, on a rope opposite the Real Greek restaurant. It just had to be."
Appetite whetted, she discovered a course at the University of Sussex sports centre that focused on rope skills.
"I was taught a lot of skills and the rest is history," Tamsin says.
"I'd seen other aerial shows where the skills were good but the acting wasn't, but I wanted to do an aerial show that told a story rather than having the story tagged on. I wanted to speak from the rope, so that a show would really make sense in that way."
Having performed in many Greek tragedies, she planned to do a piece on female archetypes, including Greek heroines.
"But part way through I realised I enjoyed playing Dionysus most of all, so the female archetype idea went out the window," says Tamsin, who has renamed Dionysus as exiled cult figure Suergaz in Bacchic.
Gradually, Bacchic took shape, utilising her skills from Le Coq and Complicité workshops as well as rope work. "You have to be incredibly fit," says 41-year-old Tamsin, whose hands are hardened by calluses. "I've always done a lot of running, and AOD have always worked with a voice coach, Annie Morrison, and actually you can find a lot of resonance in your voice up there though a neck hang is difficult for speaking."
Ten metres off the ground in her 55-minute show, she could not be happier. "It's just so joyous swinging, like when I used to swing over the river on a rope as a child," she says.
Actors of Dionysus present Bacchic, York Theatre, Royal, Tuesday, 7.30pm, box office 01904 623568; Harrogate Theatre, June 18, 7.30pm, 01423 502116.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
