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“It doesn’t rub our face in the subject, it is still light-hearted despite the horror of the subject,” Kohn adds. Casting the part of Gloria was another challenge--though in an entirely positive aspect. Kohn and Faber spent an hour-long working session with several actresses before choosing London-based actress Jacqueline Acheampong. “I wish I could have cast all the actresses who auditioned,” says Kohn. “I had a very strong impression of Jacqueline, who was the first to audition. Rafael and I looked at each other after she finished and we were… ’wow, she has a presence!’ But for me, it was a very funny process, because usually I am on the other side of the casting table.” Gloria and Dijana are basically cellmates, and the time they spend together--structured to be the central section of the play--is the high point of Dijana’s story. October 2014
“The characters compliment each other,” says Faber. “But they are unique. No two life stories are the same.” The characters are in fact an amalgam of a number of women Kirkwood interviewed during her research for the play. "IT IS BELIEVABLE BECAUSE THERE IS PRECISION AND TRUTH IN THE PLAY." RAFAEL KOHN
Acheampong is also a singer, so Kohn has an idea to get her to work with Serge Tonnar, who is providing the music and sound design for the production. The current president and co-founder of Maskénada, Tonnar has made a name for himself as an author-composer-performer, and recently enjoyed success with albums of original Luxembourg language songs, many satires on Luxembourg society, with his band Legotrip. He has been working in theatrical sound design since 1996,
when he worked on Maskénada’s Mäcbess, an atmospheric Luxembourg language production of Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy, performed in the forest at Berdorf. “We are a bit nomadic,” he explains of the company’s policy of taking performance arts to the people. “From the beginning we have tried to choose locations that fit with the production. We were pleased when we received permission to perform in the Hamilius. Because that is often the challenge, to convince people who are not used to staging cultural events that we can use their venue.” IT FELT EMPTY WHEN THE HEART WENT AT FIRST BUT IT IS ALRIGHT NOW Where: former Asia shop, Hamilius underground passage, Luxembourg-Centre When: 22, 24, 29 & 31 October and 1, 5, 6 & 7 November at 8 p.m. 26 October and 9 November at 5 p.m. Tickets: maskenada.lu
PHOTOS LEGENDS A. Relaxed preparation: actress Larisa Faber and director Rafael Kohn in the shell of the former Asia shop in which they will stage Lucy Kirkwood’s seminal play B. A life less ordinary: Dijana’s few precious possessions and the tools of the trade C. Veteran: Serge Tonnar is a co-founder of Maskénada and its current president. He will provide the music and sound design for the new production