Festival Diary #1 (or: why Alison is short on sleep these days)
Tragedia Endogonidia: BR.#04 Brussels by Romeo Castelluci. Societas
Raffaello Sanzio, @ the Malthouse Theatre;
It is in fact very difficult to describe the impact of BR.#04 Brussels,
Romeo Castelluci's astounding expression of contemporary tragedy. This is
work that communicates at levels both beneath and beyond speech, and it
leaves you filled with a profound wordlessness. I don't think I have seen
any theatre which so radically and powerfully questions the place and
meaning of language.
BR.#04 Brussels is the fourth part of a major theatre project called
Tragedia Endogonidia, which was created as an evolutionary work across ten
European cities. As its name suggests, Castelluci and his company are
interested in exploring an organic conception of tragedy: "endogonidia" is a
kind of fungal spore that reproduces by single-cell division. The tragedy
explored here is far from that of the mortal, individuated hero: it is the
tragedy of time itself, which erases all identity. But this anonymity, like
the fungal spore, signals an immortality: individuals may die but, in its
endless division, the spore persists.
More at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
1984 by George Orwell, adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan, directed by Tim
Robbins. The Actors' Gang, State Theatre @ the Victorian Arts Centre.
The Actors' Gang is also preoccupied with the police state, bringing from
Los Angeles their stage adaptation of 1984, but compared to Casthelluci's
lucid, resonant images this is primitive stuff. It is easy to see why, in
the current political climate, one would want to adapt George Orwell's
classic portrayal of the totalitarian State: but the execution here gives
the novel a didacticism that Orwell himself wisely avoided.
More at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Coming up: Ngapartji Ngapartji and the fabulous Camille -
All the best
Alison
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
|