Sunday, 30 September 2007
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Saturday, 18 August 2007
A viewer's review on edfringe.com
 a visual and intellectual treat 15 Aug 2007 reviewer: Gerdi Quist, United Kingdom |
| From the moment the show starts with shuffling feet rushing in to set up and mark out the theatrical space, you know you are in for a visual and intellectual treat. The audience needs to make its own interpretation of events as there is no discernable dialogue (unless you know Polish). But this does not stop you from enjoying the piece. The performance given by Mira Rychlicka is immensely rewarding, subtly humorous and keeps you engaged all the time, even if you can’t fully understand what is being said. If anything, this probably heightens the audience’s perception to clues given to help you interpret what is actually happening on stage. Clues include the repetitions of the scene where a Magistrate arrives at a house in the middle of the night, suggesting to us we are not seeing a linear plot, but different interpretations of events; we can also tell the Magistrate is fancying himself as a detective as he thinks the arrows on the floor are clues to solving what he imagines to be a murder; and most significantly, the presence of the creaking windmill suggests the Magistrate, like Don Quijote, is suffering from an overexcited imagination. But, even without understanding the plot fully, this show of ‘object based theatre’ is very enjoyable and atmospheric through the use of stunning and suggestive stage props, the use of masks and puppets, and a haunting original musical score performed live by a guitarist. If you like your theatre to be more than simple entertainment, you really should not miss this show. |
| http://www.edfringe.com/reviews/read.html?id=4622 |
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Scotsman Review 13-08-07
A Funeral For Don Quixote
***
SALLY J STOTT
ROCKET @ DEMARCO ROXY (115)
"IT'S GOING to be sensational," proclaims a man, before we are ushered inside the dark and gothic Rocket and into the vast heart of this converted church. It's a formidable place to be at midnight, tremendously well suited to the sinister tale of ritualistic death that follows. A co-production of Central Saint Martins College of Art, this is an experimental piece of object-based theatre that relies on symbolist imagery, non-naturalistic language and a multi-media landscape to tell its story. However, quite what this story is about remains pretty abstract.
Based on Witold Gombrowicz's novel Cosmos and short story A Premeditated Crime, it supposedly tells the tale of a son who believes his father has been murdered. However, you would never get this unless you'd read the press release. Using images from Don Quixote (such as a clunking windmill), the play relies heavily on the nightmarish, ultimately very surreal, world it creates. We get treated to an autopsy, a hanging, some freaky puppets, an even freakier family and some truly disturbing masks.
Yet, while highly atmospheric, horrible and downright scary in places, unfortunately it often makes very little narrative sense. Mira Rychlicka is a wonderfully expressive, compelling actress. However, scenes are overly long and indulgent, with events taking ages to properly form.
A Funeral for Don Quijote is less sensational than it is disquieting, but the Rocket is a wonderful place for it. Beware that it will probably give kids (and me) nightmares for weeks to come.
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Monday, 23 July 2007
A Funeral for Don Quixote press release.
Mira Rychlicka, former actress of Kantor’s Cricot 2, stars in A Funeral for Don Quixote, directed by Andrea Cusumano, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2007 as part of the Rocket @ De Marco Roxy Art House program. The piece, supported by the Cricoteka and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a mesmeric and uncanny experience of visual theatre.
A Funeral for Don Quixote, a co-production of Central Saint Martins-MA Scenography and CeSDAS was created and presented for the first time in April 2007 in Krakow at the Cricoteka. The piece was developed during an MA Scenography workshop using Tadeusz Kantor’s methodology, creating the dramaturgy through the use of objects and space. The storyline is inspired by Witold Gombrowicz’s novels Cosmos and A Premeditated Crime.
The extraordinary Mira Rychlicka performs as Magistrate H, delivering an intense interpretation of the character. Magistrate H arrives at night in a home where a family, the mother, her son and their two servants are mourning the father’s death. Unhappy with the idea of a natural death, he searches for clues of a murder. The piece unfolds between “reality” and his neurotic “interpretation of reality”.
Set in the household, the narrative loops starting in reality and ending each time a little bit further into imaginary; where masks alternate with puppets, a dinner table becomes a dissection scene, a dead man turns into a cockroach, anguish is followed by fantasy in a crescendo of uncanny images whilst the windmill goes on turning.
Dates from 11th to 18th of August 2007, @ 00:10 am
Venue Roxy main @ Rocket Venues www.rocketvenues.org
Tickets £15, concessions £10. Offer 2 for 1
Press Contact Nathalie Harb nnaiiade@hotmail.com 07946930991
Ingvill Fosheim ingvillf@hotmail.com
THE COMPANY
Andrea Cusumano (Italy) is an artist and director whose work has been extensively shown in Europe and U.S.A. (New York, LA, Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, London, Valencia, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Mokena). He lives and works in London and teaches at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Cusumano has researched on Kantor’s methodology for the last three years. His collaboration with Mira Rychlicka started in 2006, in the Krzyztofory Gallery. They developed Drabina Jakuba (Jacob’s Ladder) inspired by Bruno Schulz’ The Cinnamon Shop. In 2007, they worked again on Tumor Lined with Infancy, presented at the Teatro Garibaldi- Union des Theatre de l’Europe in Palermo; the piece will be presented in September 2007 in London, in Aria 10 project space, with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute.
Mira Rychlicka (Poland) was one of the main actresses in Tadeusz Kantor’s company CRICOT 2. She worked with Kantor since his first performances and delivered the seminal role of Tumor in the Dead Class. She also performed leading roles in Wielopole Wielopole, Let the Artist Die, I shall never return and Today is my Birthday.
She returned to stage two years ago after long years of absence after Kantor’s death.
The artists/performers
Ingvill Fossheim (Norway), Victoria Gertz (Mexico), Fotini Kalle (Greece), Victoria Karvouni (Greece), Reija Stenius (Finland) and Laurien Versteegh (The Netherlands) are MA Scenography students of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, coming from different backgrounds (Fine Art, Photography, Set and Costume Design)
The team devised the piece. It started with the building of the props, sets and costumes that generated the characters, actions and the dramaturgy of the piece.
Kimbal Bumstead (UK), fine art student, participated to the workshop and performed in the piece.
Jussi Salminen (Finland), performative-art director, participated to the workshop and worked in the backstage department.
Nathalie Harb (Lebanon) video-installation artist and Cesdas co-founder, worked on the video section of the project.
Giuseppe Lomeo (Italy) guitarist/composer wrote the music of the piece. His music intrinsically related to visual art, explores the orchestral potential of the guitar.
Mikko Keski-Vahala (Finland), printmaker, created the poster and flyers of the show.
THE INSTITUTIONS
CeSDAS is an international cultural centre based in Palermo-Italy, in the historical Palazzo Filangeri di Cutò. Founded in 2005 by Andrea Cusumano and other artists, it promotes and produces works that explore the dramaturgic potential of the space and objects.
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design - MA scenography is a
Post-graduate course that responds to and engages with tradition and changes in the arena of contemporary performance and experimental theatre practice. Directed by British writer and director Pete Brooks, it continues to respond and contribute to the debates relating to the core territories of performance making, design and time based practices. It acknowledges and promotes the hybrid nature of contemporary performance work, and a critical exploration of conventional fixed boundaries between fine art performance and theatre. www.csm.arts.ac.uk
Cricoteka, Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor, Krakow, has hosted workshops of the MA scenography for the last three years in the Krzyztofory Gallery, original site of Kantor’s The Dead Class. www.cricoteka.com.pl
Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a governmental cultural institute which aims at popularizing polish culture internationally. www.iam.pl
Mira Rychlicka, former actress of Kantor’s Cricot 2, stars in A Funeral for Don Quixote, directed by Andrea Cusumano, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2007 as part of the Rocket @ De Marco Roxy Art House program. The piece, supported by the Cricoteka and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a mesmeric and uncanny experience of visual theatre.
A Funeral for Don Quixote, a co-production of Central Saint Martins-MA Scenography and CeSDAS was created and presented for the first time in April 2007 in Krakow at the Cricoteka. The piece was developed during an MA Scenography workshop using Tadeusz Kantor’s methodology, creating the dramaturgy through the use of objects and space. The storyline is inspired by Witold Gombrowicz’s novels Cosmos and A Premeditated Crime.
The extraordinary Mira Rychlicka performs as Magistrate H, delivering an intense interpretation of the character. Magistrate H arrives at night in a home where a family, the mother, her son and their two servants are mourning the father’s death. Unhappy with the idea of a natural death, he searches for clues of a murder. The piece unfolds between “reality” and his neurotic “interpretation of reality”.
Set in the household, the narrative loops starting in reality and ending each time a little bit further into imaginary; where masks alternate with puppets, a dinner table becomes a dissection scene, a dead man turns into a cockroach, anguish is followed by fantasy in a crescendo of uncanny images whilst the windmill goes on turning.
Dates from 11th to 18th of August 2007, @ 00:10 am
Venue Roxy main @ Rocket Venues www.rocketvenues.org
Tickets £15, concessions £10. Offer 2 for 1
Press Contact Nathalie Harb nnaiiade@hotmail.com 07946930991
Ingvill Fosheim ingvillf@hotmail.com
THE COMPANY
Andrea Cusumano (Italy) is an artist and director whose work has been extensively shown in Europe and U.S.A. (New York, LA, Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, London, Valencia, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Mokena). He lives and works in London and teaches at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Cusumano has researched on Kantor’s methodology for the last three years. His collaboration with Mira Rychlicka started in 2006, in the Krzyztofory Gallery. They developed Drabina Jakuba (Jacob’s Ladder) inspired by Bruno Schulz’ The Cinnamon Shop. In 2007, they worked again on Tumor Lined with Infancy, presented at the Teatro Garibaldi- Union des Theatre de l’Europe in Palermo; the piece will be presented in September 2007 in London, in Aria 10 project space, with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute.
Mira Rychlicka (Poland) was one of the main actresses in Tadeusz Kantor’s company CRICOT 2. She worked with Kantor since his first performances and delivered the seminal role of Tumor in the Dead Class. She also performed leading roles in Wielopole Wielopole, Let the Artist Die, I shall never return and Today is my Birthday.
She returned to stage two years ago after long years of absence after Kantor’s death.
The artists/performers
Ingvill Fossheim (Norway), Victoria Gertz (Mexico), Fotini Kalle (Greece), Victoria Karvouni (Greece), Reija Stenius (Finland) and Laurien Versteegh (The Netherlands) are MA Scenography students of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, coming from different backgrounds (Fine Art, Photography, Set and Costume Design)
The team devised the piece. It started with the building of the props, sets and costumes that generated the characters, actions and the dramaturgy of the piece.
Kimbal Bumstead (UK), fine art student, participated to the workshop and performed in the piece.
Jussi Salminen (Finland), performative-art director, participated to the workshop and worked in the backstage department.
Nathalie Harb (Lebanon) video-installation artist and Cesdas co-founder, worked on the video section of the project.
Giuseppe Lomeo (Italy) guitarist/composer wrote the music of the piece. His music intrinsically related to visual art, explores the orchestral potential of the guitar.
Mikko Keski-Vahala (Finland), printmaker, created the poster and flyers of the show.
THE INSTITUTIONS
CeSDAS is an international cultural centre based in Palermo-Italy, in the historical Palazzo Filangeri di Cutò. Founded in 2005 by Andrea Cusumano and other artists, it promotes and produces works that explore the dramaturgic potential of the space and objects.
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design - MA scenography is a
Post-graduate course that responds to and engages with tradition and changes in the arena of contemporary performance and experimental theatre practice. Directed by British writer and director Pete Brooks, it continues to respond and contribute to the debates relating to the core territories of performance making, design and time based practices. It acknowledges and promotes the hybrid nature of contemporary performance work, and a critical exploration of conventional fixed boundaries between fine art performance and theatre. www.csm.arts.ac.uk
Cricoteka, Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor, Krakow, has hosted workshops of the MA scenography for the last three years in the Krzyztofory Gallery, original site of Kantor’s The Dead Class. www.cricoteka.com.pl
Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a governmental cultural institute which aims at popularizing polish culture internationally. www.iam.pl
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
