Continuing with the theatre theme of the last blog: last week we visited a very interesting exhibition of theatre costumes in a local gallery. They belong to Temps Forts, a small theatre company of two or three performers and a couple of technicians. Inspired by Indonesian theatre, they spent some of the year there, then armed with the magic of the east came back to Europe to mount their distinctive productions. Their performances were highly energetic and uniquely imaginative, involving a mixture of dance and acrobatics, while wearing incredible costumes, the stories and myths they re-enacted were weird and wonderfully spell-binding, sometimes hilariously funny; we often went to see them during our first years here in France, and would leave the theatre having been utterly and completely transported to faraway lands. We were lucky enough to get to know them, and loved being invited to dine in the romantically half-ruined castle they were renting at the time. (This castle would have been perfect for the home of the Mortmain family in “ I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith) it was cold and draughty, with mediaeval towers, stone floors, huge stone fireplaces in vast rooms, the roaring fires barely heating the first metre of floorspace. It was fantastically creepy, full of atmosphere and the perfect dwelling for them. Anyway I digress, we eventually lost touch because they were staging performances further away, recently I learned that sadly they haven’t been able to find funding and apparently the company no longer performs, their website still exists though, if you care to have a peep ( here) ; the costumes on show are from a collection of 100 or so, in fact they are looking for a permanent home for them, so if anyone knows of a museum or someone who would take them all on as a complete collection, they would be delighted!
Medusa:
rear view:
The bat:
Frog:
and lastly , this is how I look and feel after a late night, I can’t do late nights these days!
lizkingsangster 
Wow, these costumes are knockout!
Ma chère Liz,
Juste une idée :
En lisant ta dernière newsletter et en découvrant ces beaux costumes, j’ai pensé qu’il existait à Moulins (03) le Centre national du costume de scène http://www.cncs.fr/ …
Cela vaudrait peut-être la peine de prendre contact avec eux?
Biz à tous les deux
A bientôt.
Sylvaine
> Message du 22/11/15 00:17 > De : “lizkingsangster” > A : sylvaineolive@wanadoo.fr > Copie à : > Objet : [New post] Temps Forts Theatre > >WordPress.com
lizkingsangster posted: “Continuing with the theatre theme of the last blog: last week we visited a very interesting exhibition of theatre costumes in a local gallery. They belong to Temps Forts, a small theatre company of two or three performers and a couple of technicians. Ins”
Merci Sylvaine, ça c’est superbe! J’ai transmit le lien tout de suite à Temps Forts, biz Liz
In fact I think most people would be interested in this link to the Centre National des Costumes de Scene, they have collections of over 20,000 theatre, dance and opera costumes. Its worth a look http://www.cncs.fr/ , thanks once again,Sylvaine!
Costumes are magnificent and the masks are just wonderful. I saw Kathakali perform King Lear at the Globe and will never forget it.