Bunker Talk #143: Lume x Reckless Sleepers

Members of the established theatre groups, Reckless Sleepers (UK/Belgium) and LUME (Brazil) will, for the first time, engage in a public dialogue about their distinct practices, specifically with a focus on performer training.

LUME was founded at UNICAMP, in 1985, as a research centre in action, conceived by Luís Otávio Burnier. In 1993 it became the Interdisciplinary Centre for Theatrical Research – LUME. Dedicated to the art of acting and effectively promoting scenic research, LUME are internationally recognized for their Laboratory Theatre work. The group conduct research into the hybrid territory of theatre-dance and theatre-performance, which includes the art of clowning, corporeal mimesis, training and scenic presence.

Reckless Sleepers was founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Mole Wetherell, as a collective of artists committed to generating radical contemporary performance work. By 2012 both Kevin Egan and Rachel Rimmer-Piekarczyk had joined the group as performers, and this represents a moment of expansion where theatre-dance converged with the group’s repertoire in theatre-performance. In its current format, the group creates work that foregrounds this hybridisation of theatre training, with a focus on rules, scores, forms and concepts.

During the discussion Kevin and Rachel will interrogate the training practices of both groups within the context of their own practice-research, which situates the act of performing as a model of apprenticeship training. This discussion is a way to understand the different perspectives and points of connection between Laboratory Theatre and Contemporary Performance practices.