Titanick, Germany Odysseus International Street and Open-air Theatres Festival FETA, Poland, Gdansk 2011
Peculiarity, or rather peculiar charm of the street theatre is that sometimes the audience does not suspect that it (a performance) has already begun. This is a huge strategic advantage of the street theater. The ignorance of the audience, the ability to begin slowly and quietly, to tighten, to spin round in the whirlpool play.  While
people are gathering on the square a battered tent sells Coca-Cola and fried
sausages... A delicious smoke from the grill, three rickety plastic chairs, a
battered umbrella... just an antique greek nose of a seller and a name
"Grill Poseidon" hints to some sophisticated spectators, that this
very real shabby fast food is Ithaca...
Suddenly
to the square comes a huge and very real huge THING, crushing everything in the
eyes of a confused host. Now ALL viewers understand - that's it - has begun!
Majestic and impartial, ignoring all attempts to "explain" a THING
starts to spew from the bowels countless containers with the words "Ithaca",
"Ares," "Circe." Flying around the figures of the workers
dismantle some very paradoxical contents of drawers. With the majestic music a
THING is inevitably transformed into a huge structure consisting of conveyor
belts, ancient columns, shower cubicles, gables, and the curtain. It is neither
a theatre, nor a movie factory. Eerie, stuffed with the pork carcasses, boxes and
props, the monstrous spectacle of industrial space, and little men bustling
around... Gradually, from the faceless figures personified Director, Actress
and other members of the play.
In the
middle we can see very familiar human attempts to prove something to somebody.
Odysseus perfectly commensurates with the fatal self-development stage,
overgrown with towers, sparkling fireworks, towering almost above the
rooftops!...
Scene "Ocean"!
Grande-collossale continues to gain enormous speed! Sails filled with wind,
pathetic music, great lighting score, a great mask of "Ocean" ...
suddenly all the imperial splendor is interrupted by the ridiculous figure of
Ulysses on the top of the stage, shaking some papers under the nose of
director. Permission for the trade, permission for the life, for Ithaca
A little
stone in the imperial machine. oh! how much we expected at this moment of the
relations between the Hero, the Person, the Fate and the Myth! Not at all! Such
a promising story, full of decorative effects, moves to the final run of the
mill. Odysseus becomes not a hero, but a small dirty dog, provoking a chain of
bizarre deaths, generously laced with blood. This leads to an apocalyptic, but, alas,
predictable destruction of everything! Without any hint of catharsis or
original idea. Big wins upon small, small flies into a rage. "Everyone has
died. What do you think?"
Boards
personification of Odysseus, whose functions are sometimes performed by
Director. Boring triumph of Chaos. Even the river of blood (literally - the
infamous "cranberry juice") cease to impress since the first third of
the submission. So the crowd is no longer following the ups and downs of the
action, but excitedly waiting for what else will explode, falls upon, "boom”, "bang”
and take off. That’s a pity. Really. An
interesting trash staging, teamwork of both actors and technicians, a live orchestra
and - most important - a global scale (what
is a Cyclops in the crane). All this, if directed properly, must excite viewers
greed, which irresistibly needs to disemboguqe and to embody into something
more than a fun and entertainment…
Wish to
remember great Leo Bassi, who alone, armed only with a large inflatable duck,
confidentially, "holds" and confidently "move" the whole
area, causing the audience inside the wave.
As Maxim Gorky
used to say about L. Andreev, "he scares me, but I am not afraid"... That's a shame!
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