Irish Film Institute -The Wooster Group Archive

The Wooster Group Archive

IFI Press Release: September 21st 2012

The IFI and Dublin Theatre Festival present a season of screenings showcasing the work of World-renowned New York theatre company, The Wooster Group

The Wooster Group, visiting Dublin for the first time during this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival to perform Hamlet, has been helping redefine theatre for over thirty years. The IFI and Dublin Theatre Festival will present a retrospective series of screenings of their work from 1st-6th October at the IFI.

Under the visionary direction of Elizabeth LeCompte, The Wooster Group has developed a global following for their innovative and often deeply controversial deconstructions of classic texts and autobiographical material, their stunningly sophisticated use of film and digital technology on the stage, and their ensemble of extraordinary performing artists. This programme of screenings has been curated by the Group’s Archivist Clay Hapaz and features both complete works, selections of clips and reconstructions of many of their key works from across three decades.

Highlights of the programme include Rumstick Road (1976), to be introduced by Elizabeth LeCompte, which famously tried to understand Group member Spalding Gray’s mother’s suicide; the entire production of To You, the Birdie! (Phédre) (2001) setting Racine’s classic love rivalry across a multimedia badminton court; the OBIE-award winning House/Lights (1998;) and clips from their two seminal trilogies of the Three Places in Road Island from the late 1970s and  and The Road to Immortality from the 1980s. It’s a rare chance to look back on this compelling and challenging company’s rich body of work

The Wooster Group Archive Schedule

Rumstick Road Monday 1st October 5pm

The Road to Immortality Wednesday 3rd October 5pm

House/Lights   Saturday 6th October  11am

Three Places in Rhode Island & The Emporer Jones   Saturday 6th October  12.25pm

To You, the Birdie! (Phédre)   Saturday 6th October 2.00pm

Note on Dublin Theatre Festival

The 2012 Dublin Theatre Festival runs from 27 Sept – 14 Oct at various venues around the city.  The Festival presents new work from many of the leading and new Irish Theatre companies and writers as well as some of the best of International Theatre and special events / talks complementing onstage work. Full programme details can be found at www.dublintheatrefestival.com

Dublin Theatre Festival is funded by the Arts Council. Dublin Theatre Festival is proudly supported by its presenting partner, Dublin Airport Authority and by principal sponsors including The Doyle Collection and The Irish Times.  Dublin Theatre Festival is part of Dublin Festival Season

Tickets are available from the IFI Box Office (01 679 3477 or online at www.ifi.ie/dtf) and the Dublin Theatre Festival Box Office (01 677 8899 or online at www.dublintheatrefestival.com)

For more information about the Wooster Group Archive and the IFI October Programme please contact Patrick Stewart at the IFI Press Office on 01 679 5744 or pstewart@irishfilm.ie

For more information about The Wooster Group Archive and the Dublin Theatre Festival programme please contact Sinead O’Doherty at Gerry Lundberg PR on 01 679 8476  or glundpr@iol.ie 

The IFI and Dublin Theatre Festival acknowledge the financial support of the Arts Council.

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