Kaltes Land (2016)
In January 2016, Joan collaborated with Austrian theatre company Café Fuerte in their outdoor production of Kaltes Land, the award-winning play by Swiss playwright Reto Finger. The performances took place in a forest clearing in the Austrian region of Vorarlberg, and then over 5,000 ft. at the Swiss Ebenalp. While the audience walked for 30min or took a cable car to the performance space, the cast had to learn how to work in extreme conditions, performing on the snow and with temperatures below zero. Commissioned by the Women’s Museum in Hittisau, Kaltes Land follows the story of Hannah, a young woman struggling to escape the oppressive atmosphere of a remote village in the Alps. Dancer Eve Ganneau and actress Claudia Shutter portrayed the different facets of a character marked by years of harsh physical work, family secrets, and suppressed feelings..
"The piece gets under your skin, it is both archaic and avant-garde, the language sparse and full of power, precise yet poetic."
Andrea Zinnecker, Bayern Radio 1
"Café Fuerte has managed again to tell a great story in a small, out of the ordinary, place, and to present the audience with an unforgettable evening. Not to be missed!"
Dagmar Ullmann-Bautz, Kultur Zeitschrift
"To dance on the snow and to move with such easiness and elegance is simply outstanding"
Dagmar Ullmann-Bautz, Kultur Zeitschrift
"each word, each look, each movement strikes right in your heart, deep in the pit of the stomach"
