Matti Braun invests in an exploration of alienation in a complex and unexpected way, developing his project in the framework of classic theatre. He created an adaptation of a film script from the Bengalese filmmaker Satyajit Ray into a play. Working with non-actors, Braun speculates as to whether individuals could rather inhabit the roles as themselves in an improvised fashion. Braun further pushes this uncanny alienated feeling by positioning the actors as beautifully coloured pastel props, carefully choreographed against a stark black and white Burenesque stage set, with simple minimal sculptures in a highly controlled mise en scene.

Matti Braun develops his project The Alien as a series of stages in which elements of dance, acting and music are explored and framed within the context of Braun’s wider practice. Inviting the composer Li-Chuan Chong and the Kantele player Timo Väänänen to come to the Netherlands to compose the music for the play, the first public performance of the music took place at the Lloyd Hotel in April, 2005.

The Alien
Concept: Matti Braun
Choreography: Henrietta Hale
Music composition: Li Chuan Chong
Kantele players: Anna-Karin Korhonen

Actors: Beth Healy – The Alien, Mees Jongema – Haba, the boy, Joris Link – Mohan, the journalist, Nathalie Zonnenberg – Kalyani, Mohan’s wife, Felix Janssens – Devlin, the engineer, Roos Gortzak – Bajoria, the entrepreneur, Lily van Ginniken – Haba’s grandmother, Astrid Schumacher – Sarkar, the homeopath, Joris Brouwers – Govinda, the peasant, Zhana Ivanova – Pramanick, the postmaster, Sander Meijers – Battacharji, the Hindu priest, Jelle Bouwhuis – Biswas, the Christian priest, Jo’o Guerreiro – the Sadhu.

The Alien is a project by Matti Braun, initiated by The Showroom/Kirsty Ogg, and is a co-production of If I Can't Dance, Project Arts Centre, and The Showroom.

Special thanks to: Aileen Healy, Marten Jongema, Sanja Mitrovic, Grant Watson, Boost (Amsterdam), Lloyd Hotel (Amsterdam), Imperium (Leiden), BQ Gallery (Cologne).