Zoé Ternisien

Hello,

My name is Zoé Ternisien and my preferred pronouns are She/her. I trained at Paris acting school Claude Mathieu (BA equivalent)
During those 3 years, I fostered an interest in directing, by assisting optional workshops and learning about different methods before discovering Greek chorus work, which strongly impacted my journey; I was curious to discover that building a physical world as a collective, sharing a set of values and an artistic language leads to a strong ensemble filled with free individual creative offers based on a common understanding of the work. I want to dedicate myself to the creation of shows that have an accessible and social impact through the telling of modern myths and their anthropologic and artistic roots. Indeed, the research about the woman-child myth is at the core of my artistic obsessions. The taboo built around incest and the exploration of power dynamics in the family and its results on society led me to adapt Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé. I developed those obsessions through my writing and wrote a one-woman show called Knee Socks, a monologue of the real teenager who inspired Nabokov’s Lolita, focusing on a feminist perspective.
My desire is to deepen my vision through an aesthetic that abounds in archetypal codes, to play with social structures and its potential for ridicule. Timeless or even futuristic aesthetics thrill me as I aim to create universal, relatable work and I can find my voice and the excentricity of my childhood references and imagination through colourful visuals that flirt with magical realism. Writing fiction is an integral part of my imaginative process, from the introspective assiduous exercise of “morning pages” to writing my first novel in parallel with “knee socks”. As I am fascinated with the transposition of dreams and the subconscious into visual art, I explored it through the creation of two original videos dedicated to the promotion of A girl Named Salomé.
Now is a time when it would be useful for me to open up and refine my tools and broaden my opportunities as a director, I want to learn more about the UK industry and ways in which to share my work. As I struggle to find my voice in French theatre -that I tend to find too shy around socio-political issues such as feminism or race, I’ve turned to the louder voice of British theatre that I have found braver; more challenging, yet potentially not as poetic, absurd or lyrical. I’ve done extensive practical and experiential research on London acting training and my aim would be to create shows that can bridge the two by travelling through the international language that is art.

Credits

IN DEVELOPMENT: WRITER/DIRECTOR, Le Creux De La Vague, Short film to shoot in December 2021 in Normandy.
WRITER/DIRECTOR, Knee Socks, Teatro Technis Research and Development
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, to director Julie Brochen, final showcase, Cours Florent Paris
DIRECTOR/ADAPTATION, A Girl Named Salomé, La Fontaine Aux Images, Clichy-sous-Bois (France) 3 weeks Research and Development (Cancelled 1 week run at Orme Theatre Paris due to lockdown)

Training

Claude Mathieu acting school, 3 years training. Paris.
Lecoq Mask training workshop with Marcela Obregon, 3 weeks.