Carte Blanche

‘There have been no goodbyes in my family for at least 80 years. Everyone disappears. Deep inside me is the belief that one day we will meet and say goodbye to each other properly.’ (Michal Svironi)

The Israeli theatre maker Michal Svironi makes figures appear as if by magic, figures that have left a trace in her memory. These figures embody and unfold like a pro­cession, perhaps also like a dance of death. Each individual figure has their own story, often macabre and clownish, they sometimes also spread tales of the diaspora. They pose questions that many displaced people are concerned with: What remains of our past, what do we leave behind? Through her puppetry, Michal Svironi connects with her family and past generations in a collage that is as garish as it is poetic, a universe at the interface between visual art and theatre.

Michal Svironi is an award-winning actress, puppeteer, clown, author, director and dramatist who has been creating plays around the world for almost 20 years that are characterised by her unique stage language. Her themes are personal and social processes. Svironi's world is poetic and abstract, macabre, absurd and provocative. She seeks the magic in life on stage and beyond, with her head in the clouds and her feet on the ground. Michal Svironi graduated from the Sorbonne with a degree in theatre studies, studied at the Ecole internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq, the Ecole de pantomime de Marcel Marceau and the Ecole internationale de mime corporel dramatique de Paris. She took part in numerous workshops, including Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Sol­eil, puppet theatre with François Lazaro, as well as acrobatics and mask workshops. Two stages marked a major turning point in her professional life: the courses for contemporary clowns with the famous Eric Bluet and the courses for art therapy with Meera Hashimoto. Svironi has worked as a hospital clown in Israel and has acted in various productions. In the cinema, she played alongside Gérard Depardieu in the film ‘HELLO GOODBY’ and in the French series ‘Antigone 34’.

By and with: Michal Svironi | Collaboration concept, music: Yoni Tal | Accessories, costumes, puppets: Le­onid Elisov | Dramaturgy: Micki Mevorach | Outside Eye: Alexandre Delperugia | Production: Shani Lu­zon, E.V.E - Organisation of Independent Artists in Theatre | michalsvironi.com

Supported by Mif'al Hapajis, Cultural Office, Matan - Rabinowitz Foundation