fOrCed entertainment exquisite pain

photo: Sophie Calle

fOrCed entertainment (uk)

exquisite pain

frOm a text By sOpHie Calle

‘Exquisite Pain’ is a story of love and loss, devised and performed by one of Europe’s most outstanding experimental theatre groups. A man and a woman tell stories of ordinary and not-so-ordinary heartbreak. The woman repeatedly recounts the story of the end of an affair; each time remembering it differently, finding new ways to both remember and forget what happened. The man tells stories from many different people; each a snapshot of sorrow that takes its place in a growing catalogue of suffering, break-ups, humiliations, deaths, bad dentistry and love letters that never arrive.

Based on a project by the renowned French conceptual artist Sophie Calle, ‘Exquisite Pain’ marks the first time that Forced Entertainment have worked from ‘a text’ - in this case words and images from an artist whose extraordinary work blurs the boundaries between visual art, performance and real life itself. This simple and intimate performance explores how language, memory and forgetting move to contain, preserve or erase events; how people come to terms with trauma.

“The marriage of Calle’s text with Tim Etchells’ minimalist, utterly uncompromising production is heaven-sent...I cannot recommend it strongly enough.” The Guardian

sOHO tHeatre

Tuesday 10 April Wednesday 11 April Thursday 12 April Friday 13 April Saturday 14 April 7.30pm

tickets: £15 / £12.50 book now: Soho Theatre Box Office 0870 429 6883