How lucky we are to have such an abundance of English-language plays during the lead up to the end-of-year holidays! Here is another one with a competition to win a pair of tickets. The Village Players are putting on Arsenic and Old Lace and we are delighted to find out more.
Ilona Horvath explained the inspiration behind this particular play, "After dreaming of directing this play for six years, the time has finally come for me to share my love of this story with you. It holds a particular place in my heart because it is a scary play that makes you laugh and a funny play that should scare you! It is a play that's difficult to categorise or label. Plus it has two wonderful female roles, all too rare in theatre. Then it has a rainbow of secondary characters that are simply delightful. It has been my pleasure and joy to work with the actors and production team of the Village Players."
The history of The Village Players (VPs)
The Village Players was founded on 11 November 1981 in La Conversion, Switzerland, by a group of enthusiasts of English language theatre led by Zelda and John McKillop.
Since then the Village Players have produced a wide range of shows in various theatres and halls in and around Lausanne and elsewhere in Europe.
Currently the VPs have staged 107 Productions in front of paying audiences – including 17 Old Time Music Halls and 11 English language Theatre Festivals, not only in Switzerland but also in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. Participation in these festivals has resulted in the awards being gained for Best Presentation, Original Script and a Discretionary Award for an actress with a non-speaking role!
The Village Players are a friendly and informal group who have been entertaining themselves and others in the Lausanne area with amateur theatre, music, song and dance for the last 30 years. In addition to the wonderful public productions the group puts on each year, members have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of monthly events including play readings, poetry recitals, musical evenings and social events.
Autumn of Music 2nd edition from 27 to 30 October 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Montreux, 6 October 2021
A festival presented by the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation
From 27 to 30 October 2021, the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation presents its autumn festival at the Petit Palais, opposite the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, featuring free public concerts by emerging Swiss artists, workshops and jam sessions. In addition, the 7th Montreux Jazz Academy will host six young talents under the guidance of renowned mentors: Shabaka Hutchings, Edward Wakili-Hick, Alexander Hawkins, Jowee Omicil and José James. The Academy concert will round off the event in style on 30 October.
Last October, the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation created its own festival in the middle of a pandemic. The objective: to bring together artists and their audiences in an intimate setting that fosters interaction, creativity and discovery. Based on the success of this initiative, the Foundation is pleased to announce the second edition of its Autumn of Music festival, from Wednesday 27 to Saturday 30 October 2021. The event will be held in the sumptuous setting of the Petit Palais, located opposite the Fairmont Montreux Palace.
Autumn of Music is a hybrid festival, split into two parts: the first for the public through a programme of concerts and free educational activities; the second reserved for artists through the Montreux Jazz Academy. The event embodies the main objectives of the Foundation, which is of public interest and whose role is both to support young talent and to promote universal access to music.
7TH MONTREUX JAZZ ACADEMY
The Montreux Jazz Academy is a residency for musicians based on the transmission and explo- ration of new artistic approaches. For its 7th edition, the Academy will be under the direction of three of today’s leading figures on the buzzing UK jazz scene: saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, drummer Edward Wakili-Hick (both members of the Sons of Kemet) and pianist and organist Alexander Hawkins (collaborator of South African legend Louis Moholo-Moholo). The trio of musical directors will be backed by two mentors: multi-instrumentalist Jowee Omicil and singer José James - both of whom were on the Festival’s bill last summer.
These renowned artists will accompany six musicians selected by the Foundation. Among them are two laureates from the Montreux Jazz Talent Awards: Matt Brown, the 2019 winner with his duo Run Logan Run, and Meskerem Mees, who won the competition this year. Four young talents, active on the Swiss jazz scene complete the selection: Fabian Mösch, Louise Knobil, Daniel McAlavey and Djamal Moumène. Their programme will be intensive and thrilling, to say the least. Mornings will be devoted to practical workshops with music industry and media experts designed to help them manage their careers. In the afternoon, the young talents will work together on their own compositions, revisited for the closing concert.
After a start/stop year of theatrics due to the current pandemic, GEDS (aka Geneva English Drama Society) has come back swinging with a classic: Waiting for Godot. We chatted with John Ward, director of the play. Read down to enter the competition for a pair of tickets!
What has been the inspiration to put together Waiting for Godot?
Waiting for Godot was actually the first play I saw in a theatre apart from the odd musical or pantomime. I saw it in a theatre in Cork, Ireland, where I grew up. I had heard of Waiting for Godot before and of course, of Samuel Beckett, the author, though I didn’t know much about him either. I was really struck with how funny it was. Beckett had this reputation for being quite heavy, and indeed his novels and other works are not the easiest of reads but Waiting for Godot wasn’t like that.
It was a funny and touching play about two friends stuck in an impossible situation. It had a wit and charm about it that I wasn’t expecting. When I thought about proposing a play to direct for the Geneva English Drama Society, my first experience and great memories of Godot came back to me. Little did I know at the time that the world would be gripped by a pandemic and the themes of Waiting for Godot would become all the more relevant as the whole world waited to get through the upheaval of the pandemic!
A Tragicomedy in Two Acts
The play is described by the author as a Tragicomedy in two acts and it's basically about two men named Vladimir and Estragon who are waiting at the side of a road for someone named Godot. I don't think I’m giving anything away to say that Godot doesn’t arrive.
However, various other characters pass along the road. A rich landowner called Pozzo and his slave pass by and at the end of each act a boy arrives with a message from the mysterious Mr Godot. The play is essentially about these two characters waiting and how they converse and entertain themselves to stave off the boredom of their situation.
It's never quite clear who Godot is or what he had promised them. The play has been lauded as a profound statement on the human condition in that we are all waiting for something and often we aren’t quite sure what that is. This was the great trick that Beckett pulled off in this play. By stripping the story down to its bare essentials and even a fairly bare stage he produced from a simple story a commentary on the human condition that has made the play world famous.
Despite that, the play is essentially a comedy about two friends trying to cope with the absurd situation they have been cast into. It is also sharpy, energetic, and darkly funny!
We recently met up with a personality on the Geneva Tour circuit, Ariel Pierre Haemmerlé. He is quite well known in the area and has several books under his belt, as well as many years on various associations. One thing we noticed that you could talk about any subject and Ariel Pierre would be able to expand on it! He recently paired with VoiceMap and is offering 4 of our readers to try his tours for free.
Why did you start doing guided tours?
By coincidence: I’ve always been interested in the history of the place I live, so I already knew quite a lot. In 2001, I was working at the Geneva Cantonal Office of Heritage when a lady working at the Carouge City Administration informed me that she was preparing regular guided tours in Carouge and would I like to prepare a tour. I said yes and have never looked back. It turned out that I did this job rather well and it is a passion of mine to this day.
Later, she asked me to do guided tours for the city of Geneva where Geneva Tourism discovered me.
In 2008, there were exams organized by Geneva Tourism which I passed with very good results.
Currently, I give 200 tours a year on average. Only the Covid-19 pandemic brought it to a stand-still.
How did the APP idea come about?
The VoiceMap App is already established in over 250 cities around the world. The company was looking for someone to record Geneva-based tours via the Swiss Tourist Guide Association (of which I was vice-president for six years). I spoke to my colleagues at the Geneva Guide Association (of which I’m vice-president currently), but none of them was interested, but one of us had to do it before someone unqualified would. As the pandemic was fully installed at this point, and I had more time on my hands, I jumped at the chance to be the first to contribute.
I still do tours in person such as "Carouge en zigzag" and welcome locals and visitors to join me. This walking tour is part of the public tour program in Carouge, taking place every Saturday at 11h from June through October since 20 years. It can also be offered as private tour.
We were recently contacted by Moez Annabi about an event he is organizing entitled Firefly Festival. This first edition is taking place on the 17 and 18 September 2021 in Chambésy, Geneva.
We asked Moez a few questions to know more about this inclusif 2-day event made for people of all ages. He explained that his mission is to celebrate the city's diversity and to share this joyous occasion with everyone after the terrible year and a half we've all been through.
Why did you start? What has been the inspiration?
The festival was initiated by myself and 3 friends whilst we were on holiday in Egypt by the Red Sea. We were in the middle of a pandemic and the future appeared more and more uncertain. Despite our doubts, we felt inspired to do something positive for each other and for our community in Geneva.
Have you been working on this idea forever?
It came to us recently. We started working on the festival in April 2021.
What is the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?
The pandemic was a new challenge, not only for us, but for the entire world. The festival industry is already a difficult business to succeed in and has now become even more challenging due to all the new restraints caused by the pandemic.
What are your plans for the future?
We already have our eye on next year's edition, and hopefully our association will be involved in other projects to come.
