Theatre of Miracles
In this era of chaos, it puts the world in order and takes us on a theatrical journey to the land of dreams. Materia Prima is here again!
For the fourth time, the Groteska Theatre hosts an extraordinary event: the Materia Prima. International Festival of the Form Theatre (18-25 February) brings the best spectacles from all corners of the world, including France, the Netherlands, Canada, Lithuania, Germany, Vietnam, Italy, Switzerland and the US. “We will show fascinating and surprising performances in which theatre is intertwined with new circus and dance theatre, and dance is juxtaposed with multimedia and forms of puppet, mask and shadow theatre,” promise the organisers. It will a veritable theatre of miracles!
Addictive
First and foremost, Materia Prima is a festival of artistic discoveries. They include Uta Gebert whose two stage miniatures take the audience to a world filled with poetry and metaphysics. Limen loosely recalls Franz Kafka’s story Before the Law, although the German artist focuses on the internal lives of the protagonists rather than the plot. Cocon is a silent discussion on identity and creation. “Am I who I am?” asks Gebert reflectively in her puppet theatre.
The Vilniaus Teatras Lėlė takes us on a journey through the maze of the human subconscious and imagination, skilfully combining dance with puppet and mask animation. Inspired by the works of E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman is a reflection on a man teetering on the brink of insanity, suspended between the real and fantasy and between that which is alive and inanimate. This schism is shown perfectly through the combination of the dancer-animator and a mannequin.
Gérard Schiphorst and Marije van der Sande – a pair of artists from TAMTAM objektentheater – demonstrate that found and seemingly useless objects, such as a rusty saw or a piece of a record, can become protagonists of a spectacle. Rusty Nails and Other Heroes… is sure to enchant the audience with its original format: all animations take place live, and the filmed action will be shown on a screen.
Hypnotic
The Thang Long Puppetry Theatre brings Traditional Water Puppets to Poland for the first time. The distinctive Vietnamese folk theatre form, dating back a millennium, is unusual in that the stage for the colourful puppets animated by unseen actors is water – pond, river, swimming pool. We will see fairytale and genre scenes whose protagonists are ordinary people and mythical figures – all this accompanied by traditional folk music.
This extraordinary spectacle spanning the boundaries of shadow and mask theatre and film is bound to delight audiences. Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic is an expansive performance prepared by the Iranian visual artist Hamid Rahmanian with the master of shadow theatre Larry Reed. Accompanied by instruments including the saz, ney and kamancheh, they take us to ancient Persia to experience the dramatic love story of Zaul and Rudabeh caught up in the unrelenting crucible of history. The festival will be the first time the performance will be staged outside the US.
Captivating
Beauty and ugliness, and strength and weakness of the human body are the main themes of bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS – the legendary spectacle by the acclaimed Compagnie Marie Chouinard from Montreal. The controversial performance, described as a “bizarrely beautiful tribute to dancers and the art of dance” and a “poetic hymn on boundless freedom”, is a loose interpretation of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, in which the human body is released from tools of oppression and limitations.
The choreographer Mourad Merzouki from CCN Créteil & Val-de-Marne and visual artists Adrien M/Claire B wanted the impossible: to change the properties of matter, destroy gravity and turn the relationship between humans and time and space upside-down. A perfect marriage of dance and technique, the magical spectacle Pixel shows that the impossible can be possible. As in Illusionist paintings, the artists disrupt our perception such that there comes a point when the audience can no longer tell what’s real and what isn’t.
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,” wrote H.P. Lovecraft. Horror directed by Jakop Ahlbom is an ingenious pastiche of horror cinema filled with dark humour. The Dutch artist uses a wide range of special effects and tricks to surprise his audiences. We’ll find out that you don’t need words to tell a dark story of an ancient family tragedy. “Let’s experience film at the theatre!” invite the organisers.
Enchanting
The aerial dance spectacle by the Italian NoGravity Dance Company was a huge hit during the previous festival. This year, the ensemble of dancers and actors returns to Kraków to present their latest production Aria which seems to defy the laws of gravity. The director Emiliano Pellisari recalls the famous Italian il teatro delle meraviglie (theatre of miracles) which reigned at European courts during the Baroque. It will be a veritable feast of airborne dance, Baroque music and enchanting singing!
The undisputed star of the festival will be Daniel Finzi Pasca from Switzerland – actor, director, stage designer, producer of the triumphs of the acclaimed Cirque du Soleil and visionary of theatre; in short, “Leonardo da Vinci of contemporary stage arts”. During his first visit to Poland, he presents his dazzling, surreal project La Verità with the participation of twelve artists. There will be breathtaking circus acrobatics intertwined with amusing scenes of exquisite clownery bringing to mind dreams – since La Verità pays homage to Salvador Dali and his works.
“Materia Prima is a festival created to defy trends in contemporary arts. Instead of ugliness and discussion of the ubiquitous cultural crisis, with a general societal crisis lurking behind, we suggest making sense of the world. There will be plenty of beauty, emotions and delight – unforgettable theatre experiences,” promises the festival’s artistic director Adolf Weltschek. Let’s be delighted together!
(Justyna Skalska, "Karnet" magazine)
