The Constant Bride

A project by D. Kimm

The Constant Bride is a performance piece that assumes various guises depending on the space and context in which it is mounted. The Bride, adorned in a white gown, finds legitimacy only when she marries. Until then, she is a wanderer, an escapee, a lost or “displaced” person. When we see a bride outside a wedding, we wonder: Did she run away? Or was she abandoned? In this piece, D. Kimm explores the themes of vulnerability, regret, love, solitude and marginality.

The Constant Bride is being developed in three stages, each lasting two years; the stages may overlap.

Year 1 (2009-11)

The piece features D. Kimm on-stage backed by her female partners including Brigitte Henry on ambient video. In this lyrical and personal show, The Bride speaks directly to the audience in a semi-improvised monologue, shifting between the natural and the theatrical. Her words are underscored by video recorded live from the performance projected in evocative fragments onto bridal gowns to create a tableau vivant. An early version was staged in May 2009 at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui as part of the Off-Festival TransAmériques (OFFTA). In the fall of 2010, D. Kimm will work on an English-language version during her residency at the Quebec Studio in New York.

Year 2 (2011-12)

In Phase 2, D. Kimm will work with male partners including dancers and musicians of varying backgrounds and ages to explore male-female duality as well as cultural and generational differences. She will consider love and commitment, and will try to have the performers speak from personal experience without judging or challenging or even seeking to reconcile. The Bride here will be curious about The Stranger.

Year 3 (2013)

The third phase, involving non-professionals, will inquire into love but also difference. D. Kimm will work with thirty amateurs whose bodies are unlike those we usually see on-stage, whether “little people” or giants, the physically challenged, the elderly and others. These singular persons will present texts they themselves have written under the direction of D. Kimm. This Bride acts in solidarity with those on the margins of society—the different and those outside, in an effort to grasp the depth of our humanity.

Accompanying videos

A series of videos featuring The Bride and using a film aesthetic that recalls Georges Méliès or Guy Maddin are recorded in tandem with the performances. The videos help construct the mythology of The Bride and are run as part of a display in the theatre lobby or posted online.