Catch "Bells and Spells," a magical visual spectacle from France's Chaplin family. Directed by Victoria Thierrée Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's daughter) and starring her daughter Aurélia, this wordless show blends mime, dance, illusion, and surreal comedy into a captivating 70-minute dream. It's part of the Autumn International Theatre Season and a highlight of the Shanghai International Art Festival.
Presented as part of the 24th China Shanghai International Art Autumn International Theatre Season, "Bells and Spells" (Bells And Spells) is a captivating visual theatre production from France's renowned Chaplin family.
This unique show is a collaborative effort between two generations of artists: conceived and directed by Victoria Thierrée Chaplin (daughter of comedy legend Charlie Chaplin), and starring her daughter, the multifaceted performer Aurélia Thierrée. Together, they craft a wordless performance that masterfully blends precise physical poetry, breathtaking magical illusions, absurd surrealist humor, dance, and mime into a spellbinding 70-minute dreamscape.
The story follows a peculiar woman (played by Aurélia Thierrée) with an irresistible compulsion to "borrow" things that aren't hers. However, these objects—a shiny brooch, an ancient music box, a mysterious painting—soon cease to be passive possessions. They begin to exert a strange influence over her, pulling her into a series of bizarre, and slightly eerie adventures and misfortunes. Set within a whimsical antique shop stage, ordinary objects come alive: coat hangers transform into dragons, and tables slide on their own.
Accompanied by performer and dancer Jaime Martinez, Aurélia guides the audience through a world where magic, surrealism, and humor are the norm. The performance is an enchanting and unpredictable journey into a restless and poetic imagination, celebrated internationally for its inventive storytelling and visual wonder.
Starring
Aurélia Thierrée
Aurelia Thierrée grew up performing in her parents’ shows Le Cirque Imaginaire and Le Cirque Invisible. She toured with the Londoner trio Tiger Lillies in their show Tiger Lilies Circus. She’s worked in cabaret, theatre and variety shows from Berlin to New York. She worked with Deborah Warner, Milos Forman. From 2003 to 2011, she toured internationally in L’Oratorio d’Aurélia, then came Murmures des Murs from 2011 to 2018. Bells and Spells, created at the Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi, is her third show with Victoria Thierrée Chaplin.
Jaime Martinez
Born in San Juan/Puerto Rico, Jaime Martinez grew up in Columbia/South Carolina, where he studied with Ann Brodie and Naomie Calvert. He trained at North Carolina School of the Arts and American Dance Machine in New York. He was a founding member of the Parsons Dance Company in 1985, where he has taught nearly 400 master classes, including residencies at Juilliard School. Winner of a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award in 1998, he performs in prestigious venues (Ballet du Rhin, Ballets Jazz de Montréal, New York City Ballet and many others) and in all Victoria Thierrée Chaplin’s shows.
Director's Note:
The inspiration for the play comes partly from Borra, a legendary mid-20th-century circus pickpocket whose act involved stealing items from delighted spectators in plain sight, only to return them at the end. This tale infuses "Bells and Spells," exploring deeper questions about our relationship with objects, echoed by French poet Alphonse de Lamartine: "Inanimate objects, do you have a soul that attaches to our soul and the strength to love?"
This is a non-verbal performance. It contains smoke effects.
From Oct 24 until Oct 26 
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