Krepsko: Křehké tango, Divadlo Archa, Praha

March 14, 2012

This show translates as "Tango for Three" and was a short, silent, contemporary pain in my ass. My initial reaction was to classify it in the genre of "Theatre that makes you suicidal". It began with a woman in old fashioned, dark, clothing examining glass objects. Seriously. I'm here to watch a woman look at glass. There was cool music, there were very cool projection of the glass' reflections, but why? Why are you looking at glass? Is there some beauty of everyday life that I'm missing here? No. There's no beauty in boredom.

Then a man crept in front of the audience and stepped on to the stage. At first I thought it was by accident. He was dressed modernly, he was energetic (unlike the woman); he brought a much-needed clash to the dull stasis. He interacted (wordlessly- no talking anywhere in this show) with the woman awkwardly, an exaggerated portrayal of the ever-existing awkwardness between men and women. She was fascinated by him, and that was fun to watch. Then, he put on music and began to dance with her. She didn't have a clue how to dance and the audience found it hilarious. It was like he was corrupting her, and corruption isn't necessarily a bad thing. I suppose someone always gets corrupted in relationships.

That was all that happened. There was intermission, and then there was another silent performance. This one involved three characters, and I'm not even going to try to critique it because I honestly had no clue what was going on. The audience, once again found it hilarious, though.

I think it was the overall concept and script that I had a problem with. The acting was decent, the lighting was beautifully artistic, the sound design was entertaining. I do love weird theatre, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Here's a picture of my cats.

Gottland, Švanda Divadlo, Praha

February 27, 2012

I'm taking a class entitled "Prague Theatre Scene: Performance Analysis". We see a show every week, many of them production I wouldn't otherwise hear of, which is GREAT! The first show I saw with my class was called "Gottland", a loose adaptation of Polish journalist Marius Szczygieł's novel, about the Czechs, of the same title. 


All in all, "Gottland" was a clusterfuck. There was an array of key figures in Czech history presented on stage, though infused with the addition of social networking: Facebook updates were projected onto a screen, many of the actors had a laptop with them. I gathered it was a psychological exploration of how the past is handled in the present. How defining is history to us in the present, and how does it define us? How do we process our history: collectively and individually?


The first act had an institutional feel; large cast all in black-and-white office ensembles, sitting at small tables with laptops. The set did a wonderful job of mirroring the psychological confinements history places upon us: two bare concrete-looking walls conjoining together in a triangular point upstage. Escape looks visible, but barely possible, if at all. You're trapped within your own history, but the feeling of being trapped is a universal fear, raising the questions of how much does our own history differentiate us? If it all comes down to the shared feeling of being trapped, not so much. 


The first act ended with a distinctive display of absurdist humor, popular in Czech culture. Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" played loudly while one by one, each character recalled their own horrific death and exited the stage. The juxtaposition of the happy music along with the disturbing recollections is fantastically powerful in creating huge discomfort in the audience. And I dig that. Art can be aesthetically pleasing, it can resonate with you personally, but if it doesn't make you squirm, if it doesn't provoke questions, if you don't leave thinking what the fuck did I just see, it's not a work of art. There would be no progression.  


The second act, on the other hand, was pure absurdism. The concept of the script is probing, it's stimulating, but in performance it was a bipolar mess. Each character wore costumes very distinct to their character (costume-wise, there was no unity, only confusion). The script jumped about in a manner far to abstract to comprehend, especially considering the language barrier. The show was all in Czech, with English subtitles projected above the stage. 


My opinion? In theory, excellent. In reality, messy. Slow down, people. There's Americans in the audience. 


Here's some links with more info about the show. The first is the theatre's page, with the cast and crew and such, and the second contains more of an analysis.

Švandovo Divadlo: Gottland
Gottland review

Baletománie, Národní Divadlo, Praha

February 22, 2012

"Baletománie" (Ballet Mania) was an eclectic dance performance I saw at the Národní Divadlo (National Theatre). It  was performed in the Stavovské Divadlo (Estates Theatre) building. I should note that the National Theatre encompasses five stages: National Theatre, Estates Theatre, State Opera, New Stage, and Theatre Kolowrat. 

Estates Theatre, exterior

Interior

The show was depicted a progression of ballet, from the time of Louis XIV to the present. The different ballet styles were feebly tied together by an obnoxious meta-performance in between each section- the dancers were playing dancers rehearsing for a show. 

Gender-bending played a large role, which I suppose is pertinent to the evolution of modern ballet. There was a particularly memorable towards the end in which four men performed humorous choreography in skirts. 

The array of lavish costumes was most memorable in this colorful, lively performance. Overall, enjoyable but nothing special. 

Globe Theatre, London

Before arriving in Prague, I spent two days in London and one day in Munich. The first day in London was mainly exploring the elegant neighborhood of South Kensington and JET LAG. The next day, we toured all the major sights- Big Ben, London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and such. I tried fish and chips with London Pride beer (both winners!). Later my friends and I checked out the Tate Museum of Modern Art, and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre! 

I'll admit it killed me a little to be in London and not see a show (*cough* WARHORSE), but I am so grateful I got to see the Globe. It is of course a replica, the third of its kind as the first two burned down- thatched roofs are not the most practical! The Globe's current thatched roof is equipped with a sprinkler system, though, so no worries there.

This is the exterior, from the Thames River. Above you can see the Millennium Bridge, which was sadly destroyed by the Death Eaters in HP6... alas, alas. 

At its time, Shakespeare was trashy stuff. The globe theatre was built on the other side of the Thames- outside the City of London, so that it wouldn't infiltrate lovely London with its theatre slew of nastiness and filth. Along with going to the theatre came gambling, drinking, and visiting brothels. Such delightful activity was most common among the "groundlings", or "penny stinkards", the lowlifes who paid a penny to get into the theatre and crowded the standing-room, ground level. They were smelly (bathed ~2 times per year, wore garlic to fend off evil), loud, rowdy, drunk, dropped a piss wherever they pleased... essentially, they were University of Pittsburgh students. Ha ha ha. I'm so funny. 

The inside of the theatre is stunning; filled with colorful frescoes depicting various Greek mythological scenes. Here's some shots of the interior:

 The heavens are beautifully painted on the ceiling above the stage:

And this is me in front of the stage:

In honor of the 2012 Olympics in London, the Globe will stage all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in 37 languages. This makes super duper excited.

As excited as I get for contemporary Shakespeare adaptations, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know Shakespeare is still performed traditionally, too. Hopefully I'll get to return to the Globe to see a performance! 

Hi!

Hi! I'm Rebecca, a Theatre student at the University of Pittsburgh, from Cleveland, Ohio. I'm taking the spring semester of my junior year abroad at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
I'm very eager to use this experience to enhance my theatre education and will be blogging about the theatre and other artistic venues I attend. Come join me on my travels!