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Phil
Hayes

Photo : Ar­ge­nis Apoli­nario

DECEPTION

Premiere

From January the 19th to the 22nd, 2024, Gessnerallee, Zürich
And from January the 25th to the 28th, 2024, Gessnerallee, Zürich

Cast and credits

Concept and performance : Phil Hayes & Jen Rosenblit
Stage and props : Sina Knecht
Light and costumes : Tina Bleuler
Sound : Susanne Affolter

NYC residency assistance : Ayana El­son
Photographs NYC : Ar­ge­nis Apoli­nario
Production : Lukas Piccolin
Diffusion : Tutu Production – Lise Leclerc

Production : First Cut Productions
Co-production : Gessnerallee Zürich

Supported by : Kaserne Bâle, The Choco­late Fac­tory New York, Ville de Zürich Culture, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Pro Helvetia Fondation suisse pour la culture et Ernst Göh­ner Stiftung

Photos: © Ar­ge­nis Apoli­nario

In this new per­for­mance col­lab­o­ra­tion, Phil Hayes and Jen Rosen­blit flirt with il­lu­sion on the trail of Grifters, Hus­tlers and Trick­sters.
It feels like a film set, but we know it‘s a stage.
They are not part­ners, in­volved just enough to play the game, they are both along for the ride.
A Pay­phone.
Peo­ple pass­ing through.
Sunkissed and faded, a chance to be­gin again.

Promises and myths are for hus­tlers too.
Not so busy with who they are, but more the way they hold them­selves to­gether when they pause, leave or ar­rive. DE­CEP­TION ap­pears as mount­ing ev­i­dence as to who these char­ac­ters want us to think they are.
So try to hold on to your wal­lets, wits and lovers around these two charm­ers.
Like steal­ing candy from a baby…

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Dossier de présentation

Invited Ghosts

Premiere 

November 10-22, 2022 at the Fabriktheater, Rote Fabrik Zürich.

Cast and credits

Di­rec­tion, Con­cept, Per­for­mance: Phil Hayes 
Mu­sic, Per­for­mance: Ges­sica Zinni /Taimashoe
Artis­tic Ad­vi­sors: Jen Rosen­blit & Do­minic Oppliger 
Stage: Sina Knecht
Light: Pa­trik Ri­mann
Sound: Su­sanne Af­folter
Cre­ative In­put: Su­sanne Hofer/flim­mern
Pro­duc­tion: Lukas Pic­colin
Diffusion: Lise Leclerc
First Cut Pro­duc­tions coproduction with: 
Fab­rikthe­ater / Rote Fab­rik Zürich,
Le Grütli – Cen­tre de pro­duc­tion et de dif­fu­sion des Arts vi­vants Geneva and Süd­pol Luzern
Supported by: City of Zurich Culture, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council

Photos: © Niklaus Spoerri

I thought I was looking for revenge … but I guess now I’d settle for forgiveness.
A man ap­pears on a snow cov­ered stage.
Watch­ing him, a woman sits im­pro­vis­ing at a pi­ano.
Dogs bark in the dis­tance, cars speed by on a dis­tant high­way…
snow
blood
a pi­ano
po­ems
songs
a book of con­tacts
dogs
for­give­ness
lies
wind
phonecalls
a stolen Uber Eats bag
food
ghosts

Downloads

Broadcast folder

Heavy Hitters

Creation 2020

Cast & Credits

A First Cut Productions coproduction with Gessnerallee Zurich.

Concept, Music: Phil Hayes
Performance: Phil Hayes, John Rowley
Dramaturgy: Julia Hintermüller
Lighting, Technical: Patrik Rimann
Diffusion: Lise Leclerc
Production: Lukas Piccolin

Photos: © Niklaus Spoerri

 

Phil Hayes returns once more to the intimate setting of the Gessnerallee Südbühne in 2020, this time reuniting with his old sparring partner John Rowley. Phil and John will together sway and stagger back to the starting point of the „impossible duet“ they created for Wenn liebe nicht mehr das ist, was sie war, an evening inspired by Shakespeare’s sonnets, created in 2015 at the Gessnerallee for the Zürcher Festspiele. Visceral, musical and quietly disturbing.. Phil and John got lost exploring the tragic, heroic failure of singing (your way out) of the pain… Expanding on this tragic sense of heroic shame, John and Phil will lock themselves up in the Südbühne for a further three weeks, coming up for air with three performances on 6, 7, & 8 March 2020. This absurd double-act will push on further to explore the concept of persistence, the idea of keep getting back up and trying again, of stamina against all odds … asking when is the time for an aging (artist) body to finally quit? An expense of emotional energy weak knees a waste of shame lust in action lost in action love action

Under The Influence III

Creation 2018

Cast & Credits

Con­cept, di­rec­tion, performance:  Phil Hayes
Artistic advisor:  Nada Gam­bier
Lights, tech­ni­cal Sup­port:  Tina Bleuler, Pa­trik Rimant
Dif­fu­sion: Tutu Pro­duc­tion – Lise Leclerc
Photographs: Niklaus Spo­erri
Pro­duc­tion: Lukas Pic­colin

A First Cut Pro­duc­tions co­pro­duc­tion with Gess­ner­allee Zurich
Sup­ported by Stadt Zürich Kul­tur, Ernst Göh­ner Stiftung

Photos: © Niklaus Spoerri

In 2018, Phil Hayes created and presented three small-scale residency based performance projects in the Südbühne of the Gesneralle Each time Phil worked in residence for three weeks and then showed the work with two performances.
The series of works re­ect on Phil’s history of collaborative creation with regard to the ideas of influence and encouners. Anything could happen.

The three performances can be show individually or together as a series.

For Un­der The In­flu­ence III, Phil per­forms alone re­flect­ing on thoughts about in­flu­ence and learn­ing. Nada Gambier acted as Artis­tic Ad­vi­sor.
Use­ful in­for­ma­tion, a cou­ple of neat tricks and some dis­tant mem­o­ries.

« When I was born I knew nothing. Then came light and dark, colours shapes, sounds and smells. My father taught me that the stars are in the sky – The Plough, Orion’s Belt, The North Star… »

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Broadcast folder

Under The Influence II

Creation 2018

Cast & Credits

Concept, direction:  Phil Hayes
Performance, music:  Phil Hayes, Sarah Palin
Dramaturg, outside Eye:  Julia Hintermüller
Lights, technical Support:  Patrik Rimann
Diffusion: Tutu Pro­duc­tion – Lise Leclerc
Production: Lukas Piccolin

A First Cut Pro­duc­tions co­pro­duc­tion with Gess­ner­allee Zurich
Sup­ported by Stadt Zürich Kul­tur, Ernst Göh­ner Stiftung

Photos: © Niklaus Spoerri

In 2018, Phil Hayes cre­at­ed and pre­sent­ed three small-scale res­i­dency based per­for­mance pro­jects in the Süd­bühne of the Gessnerallee. Each time Phil work­ed in res­i­dence for three weeks and then show­ed the work with two per­for­mances.  The se­ries of works re­flect on Phil’s his­tory of col­lab­o­ra­tive cre­ation with re­gard to the ideas of in­flu­ence and en­coun­ters. Any­thing can hap­pen.

The three performances can be show individually or together as a series.

Con­tin­u­ing on from the work they did to­gether for Drumspeak, a solo piece per­formed by Sarah for the Solotage Fes­ti­val at Neubad in Lucerne, Un­der The In­flu­ence II de­vel­oped their dif­fer­ent ap­proaches to cre­at­ing mu­sic and words based around the idea of en­coun­ters and meet­ings.

Songs, Mu­sic, Drums & Gui­tars, Sto­ries and ques­tions.. Peo­ple you don’t re­ally know, too much in­for­ma­tion, She’s mean, symp­tons and strange su­per­pow­ers.

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Broadcast folder

Under The Influence I

Creation 2018

Cast & Credits

Concept, direction:  Phil Hayes
Performance:  Phil Hayes, Maria Jerez
Dramaturg, outside eye:  Julia Hintermüller
Lights, technical Support:  Patrik Rimann
Diffusion: Tutu Pro­duc­tion – Lise Leclerc
Production:  Lukas Piccolin

A First Cut Pro­duc­tions co­pro­duc­tion with Gess­ner­allee Zurich
Sup­ported by Stadt Zürich Kul­tur, Ernst Göh­ner Stiftung and Naves Matadero, Madrid

Photos: © Susanne Hofer

En 2018, Phil Hayes a créé et présenté trois projets de performances de petite envergure à la Südbühne du Gessnerallee. A chaque fois, Phil a travaillé en résidence durant trois semaines et a présenté le résultat du travail lors de deux représentations.  Cette série de projets s’inscrit dans l’historique de création collaborative de Phil, avec en son sein les notions d’influence et de rencontre. Tout peut arriver.

Les trois performances peuvent être programmées individuellement ou ensemble en triptyque.

Une invitation à une étrange rencontre/évènement. Des histoires en toute simplicité qui commencent comme une description mais conduisent à l’action, qui débutent avec des mots mais s’incarnent peu à peu dans l’espace. Une leçon sur le jeu d’acteur, sur être vrai et authentique. Des nappes, des en-cas, du faux sang et Paris.

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Brodcast folder

WORK

Creation 2017

Distribution

Interprètes:  Mark Etchells, Nele Jahnke, Christophe Jaquet, Nora Vonder Mühll, Viviane Pavillon, & Marius Schaffter
Concept, mise en scène:  Phil Hayes
Musique, chansons:  Phil Hayes, David Langhard
Dramaturge :  Julia Hintermüller
Costumes, décor:  Nic Tillein
Vidéo:  Susanne Hofer/​flimmern
Lumières:  Tina Bleuler/ Electricgold
Son:  Susanne Affolter
Construction de scène:  Kurt Brun/ Werkstatt Gessnerallee
Photographie, graphisme:  Adrian Elsener, eisbüro
Photographie live:  Niklaus Spoerri
Diffusion:  Tutu Production – Lise Leclerc
Assistant de production:  Chahida Rezgueni
Coordination:  Katharina Balzer
Production:  Lukas Piccolin

Une production First Cut Productions en co-production avec Gessnerallee  Zurich, Kaserne Basel, Theatre de Vidy Lausanne et Südpol Luzern
Soutenu par Stadt Zürich Kultur, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Pro Helvetia Schweizer Kulturstiftung, Ernst Göhner Stiftung

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Photos: © Adrian Elsener

It is the end of the day and we are try­ing to do the right thing. Six peo­ple do­ing their best in a large shared of­fice… WORK is a sym­bolic ex­plo­ration of the rules of the con­tem­po­rary cul­ture of work­ing, at­tempt­ing to an­swer the fol­low­ing ques­tions; If so much work now is just about or­gan­is­ing other peo­ple to ac­tu­ally do it, is real work al­ways done else­where by other peo­ple?.
If your work is only about or­gan­i­sa­tion rather then pro­duc­tion, how do you know when it is fin­ished?
How can peo­ple who are given no re­spon­si­bil­ity ac­tu­ally make de­ci­sions and is it pos­si­ble to do some­thing good in­side some­thing that is ul­ti­mately bro­ken?
A chore­o­graphic of­fice world peo­pled by six per­form­ers. As we try to de­code the in­vis­i­ble rules, the tele­phones don’t stop ring­ing and the pa­per­work just keeps pil­ing up. As in­ter­de­part­men­tal prob­lems emerge, con­flicts of re­spon­si­bilty start to take hold.

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These Are My Principles...

Creation 2016

Cast & Credits

Concept, direction: Phil Hayes
Created in collaboration with: Christophe Jaquet,Nada Gam­bier
Performance: Phil Hayes and Nada Gambier
Dramaturgy: Julia Hintermüller
Lighting: Tina Bleuler
Sound: Susanne Affolter
Video: Su­sanne Hofer/​Flim­mern
Production: Lukas Piccolin
Assistance & Cordination:  Katharina Balzer
Diffusion Tutu Production – Lise Leclerc

These Are My Prin­ci­ples… is a co-pro­duc­tion with Gess­ner­alle Zurich, Kaserne Basel and Süd­pol Luzern.

watch video

Photos: © Niklaus Spoerri

These Are My Principles. “If you don’t like them I have others” (Grou­cho Marx) is a per­for­mance pro­ject about prin­ci­ples, what they mean in a world of com­pro­mise, how be­fore every­thing was some­how much clearer. Why did some­thing you once be­lieved in so strongly and that seemed so im­por­tant to you, some­thing that you and oth­ers found so in­spir­ing… cease to have the same im­por­tance. Why, when it seemed so clear as to which side you were on, do peo­ple find it so dif­fi­cult to say what they are ac­tu­ally for or against. Where has all this com­pro­mise brought us? Has con­sen­sus some­how cor­rupted the idea of prin­ci­ple? Are there still lines we don’t cross? Does money change every­thing? Can you do some­thing good in­side of some­thing that you think is ul­ti­mately bad? Can you still make principled choices? 

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Press

Places Of Interest

Creation 2016

Cast & Credits

Concept, direction, performance:  Phil Hayes
Assistance & Coordination:  Katharina Balzer and Julia Hintermüller
Production:  Lukas Piccolin
Diffusion : Tutu Production – Lise Leclerc

A First Cut Pro­duc­tions co­pro­duc­tion with The­ater­spek­takel Fes­ti­val, Zurich

Photos: © Niklaus Spoerri

Places of Interest/Sehenswürdigkeitenis a pro­ject based around the im­por­tance we at­tach to ac­tual places. It is also a pro­ject based around our pre­con­cep­tions about places we have never been to and what we might ex­pect to find there.

Start­ing with an ini­tial list of peo­ple I know, have worked with or whose work I like, work­ing in the fields of Per­for­mance, Art or Mu­sic; I am writ­ing to peo­ple around the world, ask­ing them to do the fol­low­ing 3 things for me:
– to choose a place that has a spe­cial mean­ing to them. This could be for very per­sonal rea­sons, or be­cause of po­lit­i­cal or his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance.
– search on­line and find a pho­to­graph of that place, taken by some­body else.
– record a de­scrip­tion of the pho­to­graph. The de­scrip­tion should in­clude the name of the coun­try it is in, but not the name of the place or the rea­son it was cho­sen. In short, an im­par­tial de­scrip­tion of the pho­to­graph with­out opin­ion.

I will in turn then send the recorded de­scrip­tion to an artist liv­ing in a dif­fer­ent coun­try who will re­ceive a fee to paint a pic­ture en­tirely based on the recorded de­scrip­tion.
The artist will not know the sig­nif­i­cance of the place and will only know that they are paint­ing for ex­am­ple some­where in Ar­gentina or north­ern In­dia. I am also ask­ing those propos­ing places if they could also sug­gest an artist we might con­tact to paint some­body else’s de­scrip­tion.

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Legends & Rumours

Creation 2013

Cast & Credits

Direction: Phil Hayes
Created in collaboration and performed by:  Phil Hayes, Maria Jerez, Thomas Kasebacher
Dramaturgy: Julia Hintermüller
Lighting Design: Tina Bleuler, Patrik Riman
Sound: Thomas Peter, Susanne Affolter
Production Assistant: Nadine Tobler
Production: Lukas Piccolin. First Cut Productions
Diffusion: Tutu Production – Lise Leclerc
Image, Graphic Design: Adrian Elsener
Photographs: Niklaus Spoerri

A Verein First Cut Pro­duc­tions pro­duc­tion
Co­pro­duc­tion with; Gess­ner­allee Zurich, The­atre de l’U­sine – Fes­ti­val Par­tic­ules Genf, Kaserne Basel, Schlachthaus The­ater Bern, Mouson­turm Frank­furt, brut Wien und Mi­gros Kul­tur­prozent.

Sup­ported by; Stadt Zürich Kul­tur, Fach­stelle Kul­tur Kan­ton Zürich, Pro Hel­ve­tia Schweizer Kul­turs­tiftung und PRAIRIE: „Das Ko­pro­duk­tion­s­mod­ell des Mi­gros-Kul­tur­prozent mit in­no­v­a­tiven Schweizer The­ater­grup­pen”

Photos: © Adrian Elsener

“A magnificent theatrical Trinity of situation comedy, deception and Samuel Beckett style hopelessness.” Tages Anzeiger

Cre­ated new each evening and us­ing an elab­o­rate game as a start­ing point, per­form­ers Phil Hayes, Maria Jerez und Thomas Kase­bacher set out to ask them­selves what turns a mo­ment into a leg­end and whether it is pos­si­ble to cre­ate a past out the pre­sent. How do mo­ments be­come sto­ries and how do sto­ries be­come leg­ends? Is it pos­si­ble to ap­ply the same lan­guage of leg­end and ru­mour to other events and mem­o­ries of both cre­ation and de­struc­tion and so turn them into leg­ends? If we treat the pre­sent as the past can we talk about it dif­fer­ently, see things in a dif­fer­ent light and what hap­pens when the events of the out­side world start to col­lide with our own ver­sions of the truth? 

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Biography

Phil Hayes is a per­for­mance-maker, the­atre di­rec­tor, ac­tor and mu­si­cian. He has also worked in kitchens, restau­rants, pubs, fac­to­ries, on the ra­dio, on tv and on build­ing sites.
He was born on the south coast of Eng­land and stud­ied Cre­ative Arts in New­cas­tle upon Tyne many many years ago. Based in Zurich since 1998, Phil has spent most of this time cre­at­ing per­for­mance and the­atre work, mainly un­der the la­bel First Cut Pro­duc­tions, in­clud­ing; Awkward Human, Legends & Rumours, Love & Happiness, Places Of Interest, These Are My Principles… ,WORK, Under The Influence I – III  and Heavy Hitters.

In Phil’s work, the col­lab­o­ra­tive process is gen­er­ally the ba­sis for gen­er­at­ing con­tent and form to­gether with a rolling se­ries of of new and reg­u­lar col­lab­o­ra­tive part­ners. His work has reg­u­larly toured in­ter­na­tion­ally.
Phil has also made per­for­mance-based works in other con­texts, as well as work­ing as a free­lance per­former, di­rec­tor, ad­vi­sor or mu­si­cian in col­lab­o­ra­tions with other artists and groups. He has been a reg­u­lar col­lab­o­ra­tor with British per­for­mance group Forced En­ter­tain­ment (2009 – 2016) and worked on sev­eral pro­jects with chore­o­g­ra­pher and per­for­mance-maker Si­mone Augh­ter­lony.
In 2013 Phil Hayes received a cultural award from the city of Zurich for his work.
2020 Phil Hayes / First Cut Productions received a cultural award from the city of Zurich for the performance series Under The Influence I – III.

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Agenda

March 23, 24, 26, 2024
New Values (with Do­minic Oppliger)
Fabriktheater, Rote Fabrik, Zürich

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