PARIS OR DIE
The Show
Written and performed by Jayne Tuttle
Directed and co-created by John Bolton
A single brilliant red bentwood chair sits centre stage. Jayne Tuttle descends the stairs ... at first a little uncertain – she’s not her yet; she’s unformed, she’s Betty Blue burning down buildings ...
(LA MAMA 2022, Stage Whispers)
A chair. A body. A book.
PARIS OR DIE is a solo theatre piece written and performed by Jayne Tuttle.
Co-created and directed by fellow Lecoq Theatre School alumnus John Bolton (John graduated in 1979, Jayne 2006), the show combines storytelling, improvisation and physical theatre to create a unique literary theatre experience that explores grief, passion, culture and creativity.
Based on her 2019 book by the same name, Jayne takes the audience on a trip through the streets of the city and her imagination; as a theatre student, lover and outsider, towards an end she could never have predicted.
She will forget her past and disappear into the culture if it kills her. And one strange night, it nearly does …
JAYNE TUTTLE: Writer and Performer
Jayne Tuttle is a graduate of the Lecoq Theatre School in Paris (2006), Melbourne’s National Theatre (2002), and Melbourne University (1997).
As an actor she has performed in Australia with the Sydney Theatre Company, The Rabble, and the Melbourne French theatre.
She has co-devised, written and performed plays that have been staged in theatres and festivals in Dublin, Paris, Berlin and Portugal.
Jayne has worked for many years as a bilingual voice-over artist.
Paris or Die is her first book, followed by My Sweet Guillotine.
JOHN BOLTON: Co-Creator and Director
John Bolton is an award-winning director, performer and teacher, and is currently an Associate Artist at the VCA.
He is a graduate of the Lecoq Theatre School in Paris (1979) and a Fellow of The Australia Council.
John founded the John Bolton Theatre School, and has won multiple awards including two Green Room Awards and the Kenneth Myer Medallion.
John has directed plays that have appeared at The Festival of Dreaming, the Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals, The Dublin Festival and the Barbican International Theatre Event.
SHOW SPECIFICS:
The show was created during the pandemic in 2020-2021, and designed to be portable, adaptable, and played in a variety of venues. After originally being staged in a converted church hall in coastal Victoria (New Hall, produced by Lighthouse Arts Collective), it has been performed in a traditional black box theatre, a cafe, a library, a 17th century Paris chapel, a château, a bookstore, a school hall, a cinema and an old stone church. It can be played in any venue from small to large, with professional lighting design and sound to nothing at all.
DURATION: 1 HOUR
POSSIBILITY OF INTRODUCTION / DISCUSSION AFTERWARDS
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH WITH FRENCH SECTIONS
The show is performed in English, with French sections and characters, that within the context of the show are easy for a non French-speaking audience to understand.
The play has also been performed in France for a French audience, with more French sections added.
A French adaptation (with necessary English sections) is currently underway.
CONTENT WARNINGS: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE, SEXUAL REFERENCES, VIOLENT IMAGERY, TRAUMA
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:
1 CHAIR
HANDS-FREE MICROPHONE (ideal)
LIGHTING DESIGN OR BASIC ILLUMINATION
PLAYING SPACE MINIMUM 2 X 4 METRES (ideal. Show can be adapted to smaller spaces).
From her first hapless arrival in Paris lugging a backpack, to her years at Lecoq Theatre School, to a very French love affair, to the death of her beloved mother – and to an horrific injury, Tuttle vividly brings to life those transforming events and the people she meets. And not just with words: her time at Lecoq was not wasted. Using mime, she makes us see her heavy backpack, the nasty woman in the boulangerie, her classroom at Lecoq where she yearns for what amounts to high praise, ‘Pas mal.’ We see the dream lover boyfriend and his sceptical chain-smoking mother – a superb, economic impersonation that gives us the woman in a second. She creates her parents with two or three precisely chosen details. And then there are her nightmares …
Paris or Die is often funny but it doesn’t set out to be funny. It’s not rhapsodic or a travel story. Paris or Die is honest and is essentially about transformation – or, more prosaically, growing up. - STAGE WHISPERS, JULY 2022
A resounding success … Tuttle conjures up characters both interesting in the abstract and loved in the concrete. The directorial decisions are equally exciting. With a single chair, the show moves us through settings that are alive with details that exist only in our minds. (More than) simply watching a person tell a story, “Paris or Die” makes you feel like you’ve taken a journey instead. - THEATRE TRAVELS, JULY 2022
FUNNY, IRREVERENT AND MOVING, ALL AT ONCE - LUKE DAVIES
PAST PERFORMANCES
NEW HALL, POINT LONSDALE
JANUARY - APRIL 2021
PRODUCE STORE, MANSFIELD
APRIL 17, 2021
OLD STONE HALL, BEECHWORTH
28 & 29TH MARCH 2021
LA MAMA HQ, MELBOURNE
JULY 13 - 24, 2022
CHÂTEAU DE LA NAPOULE, FRANCE
MARCH 24, 2023
WILLIAMSTOWN LITERARY FESTIVAL
JUNE 17, 2023
GEELONG LOCAL WORD FESTIVAL
AUGUST 26, 2023
PORT FAIRY LITERARY WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER 8, 2023
LES RÉCOLLETS PARIS
OCTOBER 3, 2023
Full 1 hour show as performed at Les Récollets in Paris, October 3, 2023
Highlights of 2022 season at La Mama HQ, Melbourne
10-minute excerpt from 2022 season at La Mama HQ, Melbourne
Performance of Paris or Die, August 26, 2023, in Wurdi Youang Room at Geelong Library
Post-show discussion about the books and theatre piece with Maria Takolander
