Aurélia Thiérrée was born into performing arts. Literally. Her mother was performing on stage in 1973 when her water broke.
Since then, her parents have recruited Thiérrée to continue the family legacy of exploring optical illusions by juxtaposing theater, dance and acrobatics on stage. Her mother, Victoria Thiérrée Chaplin, is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin.
UCLA Live presents the West Coast premiere of “Aurélia’s Oratorio,” a mesmerizing production resembling wild dream sequences and twisted realities from April 9 to 12 at the Freud Playhouse, showcasing Thiérrée’s acrobatic talent in a show created and directed by her mother.
After five years of collaborating with her family to perform this show, Thiérrée has become an international sensation.
“It is a magical and inspired show with dance, puppetry and stage invention all wrapped up in fabulous production,” said Holly Wallace, UCLA Live senior publicist.
“It is completely original and (Thiérrée) is very charming and so talented. It … is spectacular in terms of imagery and wonderful acrobatics and puppetry all combined together; she creates this magical world for you.”
As a production categorized under UCLA Live’s Design for Sharing Family Series, “Aurélia’s Oratorio” is thought to be well-suited for a family experience.
“(The show) deals with the subconscious and imagination, and children really respond to that. There is something a bit dark in the show, and children are fascinated with the dark side,” Thiérrée said.
Thiérrée has a particular warmth toward the familial aspect of the show as her involvement in the arts often serves to unite her own family.
“(The show) is a way to keep us together as a family. As children, we never had to do things that were really difficult on stage. It was more for fun and taught us a sense of discipline and how to be reliable,” she said.
Thiérrée said audience members should not come expecting a dance, circus or magic show but instead enter the theater with an open mind, as the genre of the production is difficult to categorize.
“The theater changes every night according to audience collaboration. The illusions are handmade, and the show is based on surprises, and it’s theater,” Thiérrée said. “(My mother) has a theatrical language that is very original and particular to her. It’s been a strength, but sometimes it’s a problem because (people) want to say it’s dance, circus or theater, but it cannot be categorized.”
The production whimsically captures viewers’ attention, as in one trick when Thiérrée appears to defy spatial limitations as she fits into a chest of drawers. Her head and arms end up propped out of one drawer while what appears to be her feet are sticking out of a top drawer. These optical illusions fascinate audience members as they find themselves struggling to explain the magic-inspired phenomena.
Thiérrée recognizes the risks of a production so dependent on set design and commented that sets have collapsed on stage before.
“There is always the risk that it will fail, and every night is a renewal of this risk; you never know how it is going to go. It often collapses, but the trick is then to incorporate it so it becomes part of the evening. That’s an optical illusion in itself,” Thiérrée said.
As she has performed “Aurélia’s Oratorio” internationally, Thiérrée has noticed a stark contrast among audience’s interpretations of the show.
“People in different countries saw different things. The overall main story line kept them coming back, but it is interesting because I compare my personal version of what the show is about with (that of the audience). In Spain they thought it was death and solitude, whereas in England they thought it was pure entertainment and would laugh at everything,” she said.
The purpose of the show is to evoke familiar experiences by exploring absurdities of dreams.
“When you dream and something absurd happens, you go along with it when you’re dreaming, and when you wake up you question it. You go with whatever reality you are given in your dream. In that sense it’s theater and fragile, and every night you don’t know how the audience is going to react or if it’s going to work; that’s what keeps it alive,” Thiérrée said.