A new theatre project explores the philosophy of French mystic Simone Weil

Simone Weil: Performance as an experience of nothingness is a new theatre research project by Dr Tyrone Grima, which explores an approach to theatre-making, inspired by the philosophy and the spirituality of the French mystic, Simone Weil. The project translates in a practical and experiential manner the insights of the spirituality and the philosophy of Simone Weil, particularly those on art and theatre, to the performative medium. This with the aim of discovering a way of putting into practice the theoretical framework of Weil in theatre-making. Central to the approach is the notion of “nothingness”. The starting point was not a text nor a theme, but a process of detachment, leading to the creation of a score. After the initial research phase, which will also include feedback by a select number of academics and practitioners based on a short presentation of the work produced, Tyrone will be producing a research paper.

The project covers 16 weeks of research and experimentation, on a regular basis, between Tyrone as a director and researcher and performer Sharon Bezzina. Angele Galea supported this project by exploring it from an aesthetic perspective. In a comment about his project, Tyrone said: “This project has been a journey of discovery, in more ways than one. Although I had read extensively on Simone Weil’s insights on art and even conducted workshops based on these insights, working with a performer in-depth proved to be a surprising challenge. I am privileged to be working with Sharon Bezzina, a person with whom I have a long history of artistic collaboration.”

In terms of the process, Tyrone explains: “We started by focusing on nothing – literally nothing. No text. No concept. I barely briefed Sharon about the artistic concepts of Weil. We did not know where we were going, and needless to say, not having a delineated map can cause some form of anxiety. What has emerged through this nothingness, is something beautiful.”

The research project, Simone Weil: Performance as an experience of nothingness, is part of the MCAST research programme, managed by the Applied Research and Innovation Centre, MCAST. The research

project is supported by the Research Support Grant managed by Arts Council Malta.