...this performance is in fact the story about any kind of resistance. It is the one in a series of warnings that say we have been living the epidemic of critical spiritual disease in which we are very close to the bordering position which we are less and less capable to control. It is the rebellion against the imitating theatre – theatre of presenting and against the spectator who recognizes but who doesn’t see.
- directed by Nenad Colic
- with Svetlana Simic, Srdjan Nikolic, Jelena Dzakovic, Una Sabljakovic, Vera Jovanovic
- scene and costume Ivana Colic
- music arrangement Nenad Colic
- text A. Artaud, C. Cavafi and personal actors’ texts
- literature M. Miocinovic “The Theatre of Cruelty”, A. Artaud “Theatre and Its Double”
- premiere Cinema REX 5 April 1997;
- festivals New Theatrical Forms Festival – Pancevo ’97 – best overall performance; Theatre Specchi e memorie – Milan, Italy ‘97
- supported by Fund for an Open Society
- production Blue Theatre & REX
THE MAGNIFICENT ODISSEY has resulted from exploration of theatre at two levels. The first is based on fundamental principles of the work of Blue Theatre which are related to opening up of individuals and making them more conscious within a human approach to pedagogy work in theatre. The second level of the researching process leans directly on the first and it is related to the beginnings of Artaud’s theoretical and practical work connected to establishing of his vision of theatre through surrealist and post-surrealist phase. Theatre exists to serve and not to be served to - as one of the starting points of Artaud’s vision of theatre, it was the most important point also for us, that we were always starting from in our work and that we were always coming back to.
THE MAGNIFICENT ODISSEY was born in a difficult period. That affected our work all the more because what was going on deeply concerned young people taking part in the wok. Therefore, this performance is in fact the story about any kind of resistance. It is the one in a series of warnings that say we have been living the epidemic of critical spiritual disease in which we are very close to the bordering position which we are less and less capable to control. It is the rebellion against the imitating theatre – theatre of presenting and against the spectator who recognizes but who doesn’t see.
THE MAGNIFICENT ODISSEY is the beginning of voyage we hope will last long. Of course, we do not believe that Artaud’s idea could be expressed through one theatre play, nor even through one theatre trilogy that would close the issue. On the contrary, to feel and get to the heart of the essence of Artaud’s vision of theatre means to be capable of seeing theatre, life and everything in the Western civilization’s traditional treatment from a different angle. Perhaps it was exactly for that consciousness that we felt driven to explore Artaud more thoroughly. Thus we are trying to come up with new answers to the question of how and why theatre should operate in future. |
