Compagnie XY performing at the historic Derry Walls. Photo Credit: Samuel Buton / Compagnie XY
After the Rain by Compagnie XY, who performed in Northern Ireland last year, explores physical and spiritual resilience in the face of obstacles through a mass acrobatic act of lifting each other up.
This is their first work produced on the island of Ireland.
Creative director of In Your Space Circus, Rachel Melaugh, told of her delight at being involved in the project, which will be in Derry on August 27 and 28 at Guildhall Square.
She said: “Compagnie XY came to Derry and did a lot of visits with community groups and people last year.
“They delivered their performance Les Voyages, which they display in places post-conflict.”
She added: “This is to celebrate 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, but really it’s to look at the resilience of the human spirit and the human body, which is why they use acrobatics and parkour.”
Ms Melaugh described her time working on the production as an incredible experience.
“As a creative director, watching their process and how they work has been really eye-opening,” she said. “They’re of a skill level that I don’t think we’ve seen before in Northern Ireland.
“We’re really excited to bring it to the city. When they delivered their performance in 2022, it was quite emotional, and we found that quite a few people they interacted with on the street also got emotional.
“You can feel that emotion in the rehearsal room, so I think it’s going to be spectacular.”
Abby Oliveira, a spoken word poetry writer for the performance, described her experiences as “really rewarding”.
“The hardest thing I have had to do was to surrender so much control,” she said.
“When you’re the writer, you’re a control freak inside. You want to plan for every eventuality.
“You can’t do that with this process and that’s been incredibly freeing.
“I’m actually really enjoying that feeling of uncertainty.”
Cian Smyth, part of Ulster University’s Ulster Presents programme, was partly responsible for getting the idea off the ground.
“This came from a number of different directions,” he said.
“I knew Compagnie XY’s work from before, having worked on City of Culture and programmes like that and I really wanted to bring them to Ireland.”
He added: “I knew what that would take.
I needed to find an opportunity that would allow that to happen.
“I wanted to do an artwork with local artists about the resilience of citizens here in sustaining peace for 25 years. I thought the best way of doing that in my head was not about words, it was about physical acts.
Compagnie XY performers standing high above the Bogside. Photo Credit: Samuel Buton / Compagnie XY
Antoine Billaud, project manager of Compagnie XY, is no stranger to Northern Ireland, having studied at QUB.
“We spent most of the time on the previous project in Derry. We have so many friends there,” he said.
“We have many connections there, Abby, the spoken word singer, comes from there.
“For us, it is a special opportunity and a chance to again find the audience we met last September.”
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