Digital Programme: Ambergris (MimeLondon)

Ambergris is the story of Pinocchio in the belly of the whale.

Pinocchio is a classic story about transformation. Nowhere is this more evident than in the chapter where Pinocchio finds himself in the belly of the whale, a pivotal moment in which the puppet is confronted with his maker and his own essence. It is inside the belly of this great whale that the puppet begins his process of individuation before being spat out again into the world as a real boy.

Ambergris (æmbəʳgriːs) is formed from a secretion of the bile duct in the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating on the sea or washed up on the coast. It is sometimes found in the abdomens of dead sperm whales. Because the beaks of giant squids have been discovered within lumps of ambergris, scientists have theorised that the substance is produced by the whale’s gastrointestinal tract to ease the passage of hard, sharp objects that it may have eaten. The sperm whale usually vomits these, but if one travels further down the gut, it will be covered in ambergris, which smells like nothing else on this earth.

A bizarre digestive by-product, ambergris is highly sought after by perfumers for its key ingredient that makes sophisticated scents linger on the skin. Ambergris has an ability to transform a perfume through some sort of synergy. It has fixative powers, helping the perfume, or any object scented by it, such as clothing, retain the scent for years. In a perfume, it’s not just the scent of the ambergris, it’s the ability of the ambergris to ‘anchor’ all of the other scents.

When this rare secretion produced only by sperm whales is expelled at sea, it floats on ocean currents for years, slowly transforming, before it sometimes washes ashore looking like a nondescript waxy pebble. Despite being one of the world’s most expensive substances (its value is nearly that of gold and has at times in history been triple), ambergris is also one of the world’s least known. It can appear almost anywhere but is found so rarely, it might as well appear nowhere.

Ambergris has a magical ability to bind disparate smells harmoniously. It is an odour that is inexplicable to anything else.

Ambergris tells the tale about the production of this rare substance through a blending together of great literary characters, all of whom have been swallowed by a whale.

Appearing in the tale are:

• Jonah, the biblical character who was swallowed by a whale for his disobedience, then spat out again thanks to his re-found faith.
• Pinocchio, who threw himself into the mouth of the whale in search of his maker, and upon being reunited with his father, brewed a sneezing powder and was also ejected from the beast.
• Captain Ahab who, in his obsessive hunt for Moby Dick, is taken under by the mythical monster, refusing to let go.

We find these three characters together in a kind of rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub, the prophet, the puppet, the pirate whale hunter. Fused together, floating on the sea in a lump of ambergris.

Ambergris is set inside a giant perfume laboratory. Behind the doors is a charlatan perfumer who is obsessed with finding the perfect lump of ambergris in order to complete his great olfactory masterpiece.

Ambergris charts the process of a base substance into its purest form; from excrement to gold, whilst following the psychological purification of our puppet hero.

Patrick Sims, director

Presented by the Barbican in association with MimeLondon.

Co-produced by TJP de Strasbourg / CDN – Mini Théâtre de Payerne and Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes de Charleville.

Supported by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni.

Les Antliaclastes are supported by DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Conseil Départemental de L’Allier.

The original production of Ambergris opened in November 2018 at the TJP at CDN in Strasbourg and at Le Mini-Théâtre in Payerne; followed by performances in September 2019 at the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes in Charleville.

Images by Jeff Lefranc.