The American Moth

I'm super exited to present the opening production of this year's edition of Bergen International Festival. Watch the teaser for "The American Moth" by Alan Lucien ?yen, world premiere May 26 in the Grieg Hall.

"The American Moth" is a hybrid, multi-medial performance combining dance, theatre in multiple languages and cinematic live video.

Featuring an extraordinary cast, including the legendary Liv Ullmann, "The American Moth" is a poetic exploration of the sympathies and resentments at play in inter-generational relationships – what's loved and what's lost, experience, memory, time. But leaping between hearts from old to young and back again, love is never alone, fear leaps alongside it.

Undeniably influenced by the ongoing global pandemic, "The American Moth" reveals a series of personal stories in a stripped-down, confessional format. Amid the lies and labours of an increasingly confused world, an ancient demon grows stronger. A shared anxiety, while causing us to huddle together, threatens to tear us apart.

Using state-of-the-art film cameras with cinematic lenses, director and choreographer Alan Lucien ?yen and his company winter guests push the envelope on live-video in a theatrical context, bringing the audience up-close and intimate and presenting cinematic intensity on stage. The text and choreography is developed in collaboration with the performers.

The music for this production is written by award winning French film composer and conductor Alexandre Desplat (The Midnight Sky, Little Women, Adults in the Room, J'accuse, The isle of Dogs, The Sisters Brothers, The Shape of Water). The music of Desplat will be played live by Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Solrey (Dominique Lemonnier).

"The American Moth" will open the 2021 Bergen International Festival before presenting at both National Theatre and Concert Hall, Taipei and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Along with the live performance, an immersive, cinematic recorded version will be created for digital touring when travel is not possible.

https://youtu.be/Qyj8vzz-A9s