TEXTS & REVIEWS /////
1. Reviews
For a review about Useful Knowledge to Know written by Mary Paterson, co-director of Open Dialogues: click here.
Or Download
For a review about Useful Knowledge to Know by French website Artistik Rezo: click here.
+ Extracts from a review written by Josh Tomalin, What’s on Stage, 9 September 2009:
“Chloé Déchery and Chris Eley have created in Useful Knowledge to Know a piece of theatre that is enigmatic, technically fluid, (…) and ultimately, charming. Déchery delivers a performance-cum-lecture on the subject of language and its eccentricities, its importance and its presence in every part of the world around us. Her props are a simple table and chair, vase and flowers, paper and pen. Eley’s visuals are constant, always appropriate and used perfectly at every point and Déchery herself is a complex and interesting performer.”
(…) When Déchery switches to physicality to bring the secret language of her table and chair to life, the results are lovely. Despite her telling us that she is not a dancer, her movement is elegant and her body’s message is poignant. What is oddly ironic is that in a piece that takes as its starting point the complexity of language, the most emotional moments were produced by the most direct methods possible, a dancer moving to the tune of delicate piano notes.
(…) there is an awful lot going on in this little show and its one can’t help feeling earnestly charmed by it. Whilst it should be regarded as a failed experiment, theatre would be dead and cold if it wasn’t for the attempts of artists like Déchery & Eley to illuminate that basic human urge for understanding.
Other reviews about Useful Knowledge to Know were written in various blogs including:
- Signal Not Noise: click here
- Daily Info, Oxford: click here.
2. Texts by Chloé Déchery
Critical writing
- “Amateurism and the ‘DIY’ Aesthetic: Grand Magasin and Philippe Quesne” (English), French Contemporary Performance, a collective publication led by Carl Lavery and Clare Finburgh, soon to be published with Palgrave.
- «The Use of Play and Things within Forced Entertainment’s theatre» (English), EBC Theatre Review, Spring 2009
- «L’écriture performative» (Français), Théâtre public n°191, “L’Avant-garde américaine et l’Europe. II. Impacts”, December 2008
Reviews
Various reviews about theatre and performances in London and in Paris, for French website Poptronics:
- Interview with La Ribot: click here.
- About La Ribot’s Llámame mariachi: click here.
- About Rajni Shah’s Diner with America: click here.
- About Spill Festival 2009: click here.
- About Etrange Cargo Festival at La Ménagerie de verre, in 2008: click here.
Creative writing
Taking the train (English / Français). This article was published in December 2009 in a collective publication led by Open Dialogues and Critical Communities, entitled “RITE“, which can be purchased on thisisunbound.co.uk (click here).