PASSION

By Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine

Directed and Choreographed by Eamon Foley

This production of Passion will bring audiences closer to the emotions of the characters by setting it within a modern aesthetic and using contemporary dance as a prominent storytelling device. What might start as a hint of choreographic movement when, say, Clara’s letters arouse Giorgio, will grow from transition to transition, tracking Giorgio’s transforming emotions and growing in intensity as he reaches his breaking point. Choreography can also illuminate the sexual undertones bubbling throughout the entire base camp, and kinesthetically communicate the unnameable forces of lust and love that percolate underneath this mysterious musical.

GIORGIO

CLARA

FOSCA

Choreography

I’d like to use dance as an extension of how passion and love shifts within Giorgio. Contemporary, organic choreography danced by the ensemble will illuminate his passion for Clara, his curiosity as he becomes entranced by Fosca, and eventually his madness. The presence of choreography would be a light touch at the beginning of the play, but should take on a stronger presence as the obsession grows and he approaches his breaking point.

Unlike my production of Sunday in the Park with George, there wouldn’t be a separate dance ensemble. The soldier’s, who would be both men and women, will sing the transitions, take on the flashback roles, and dance the stirrings within Giorgio. I’m interested in seeing men and women, men and men, and women and women dancing with each other during the transitions, as if passion is simmering all throughout the base camp, making itself known in all sorts of wild, surprising ways. I’d like the choreography to help push the idea that an intoxicating lust is wafting throughout the entirety of the base.

Also, unlike Sunday, the choreography would be of a more organic and sensual quality, expressing the longings of the natural human body. I’m interested in exploring a dichotomy between the ridged, diegetic movement of the soldiers verse something more visceral when they move as Giorgio’s inner desires.

An example of my more organic contemporary choreography can be viewed in the video above. For Passion, it would be more about the body being possessed by longing.

Modern Aesthetic

While I’d like the set to feel timeless and liminal, I’d like the costumes and the lighting to have a modern aesthetic. I’m inspired by the 2022 production of Henry V at Donmar Warehouse, in which Shakespearean language and a modern military aesthetic existed in the same space. I am also inspired by the aesthetic of the HBO series We Are Who We Are by Luca Guadagnino, which follows army brat teens discovering their sexual identities on a remote Italian base camp. From a lighting perspective, I’d like to, at times, utilize a modern rock n’ roll concert aesthetic, in which front-blaring light communicates the overwhelming feeling of being taken by lust or love.

CHEMSEX

A reason why I’m interested in a more modern aesthetic is that I’d love to incorporate cocaine use into Giorgio and Clara’s relationship when they are alone together, as if we’re catching them in a drug-fueled sex marathon in a seedy motel. It only needs to be a light touch, but I’m interested in seeing that Clara and Giorgio’s passion for each other is somewhat chemically induced. Their relationship feels like “chemsex” in the sense that it exists on a plane too hot to maintain, and hinges on fantasy. Their passion is like a drug in that it is an intense, euphoric connection that crashes hard when they have to face reality.

“What seems real and vivid often turns out to be the opposite. For some, the drug promotes the sensation of a super-intense interpersonal connection. Many users describe this as deeper and more powerful than any they have experienced. The irony is that these “connections” ultimately disintegrate and leave the user feeling lonely, disappointed, and exploited.”

- Dr. David Faucet on Chemsex

Design

So much of the action takes place around rectangular shaped furniture pieces, such as a bed, a table, or a billiards table. I think we can simplify the set by having a a big concrete slab in the center of the space to suggest all those furniture pieces, but also foreshadow a tomb for Fosca.

A curvaceous stage, with winding stairs and levels can play opposite the harsh corners of the tomb. The space wants to feel sexy, with plenty of exposed lighting instruments, but also foreboding. The concrete slab should be able to lift to different heights, sometimes disappearing entirely, and depending on the audience configuration, spin.