MEDIATHEK

"The Latin word Sclavi means both "slavs" and "slaves". The productions's creators are of Czech, Polish, Ukrainian and Serbian nationality, and , with an appropriate measure of self-irony, are aware of the yawning gap between Slavophile ideas and the present-day reality of the Slavs in Europe and around the world. Can we be free, throw off our incapacity to act, and take responsibility for ourselves? Who is forcing us to serve? Is it a case of repression, or self-abasement?

The movement is fascinating, extraordinarily stylized and rhythmic, working through fast nervy steps and jumps that are full of inner energy and tension, rather than with the curves of the human body. We sense their archetype somewhere in the ritual ceremonies of our Slavic forebears, their distant echoes captured in the oldest forms of human dance. The movement is connected ceaselessly with singing and sound of the human voice, whispers and shouts that create a strange stylized music and transmit emotion better than words. We hear occasional snatches of sentences and words - in Russian, Ukrainian, Slovakian and eastern words. We hear occasional snatches of sentences and words - in Russian, Ukrainian, Slovakian and easterns Slovakian dialect - culminating in songs or creating a counterpoint to the action. We understand them only here and there, seemingly by chance, but in fact even the way we struggle to catch them and their meaning heightens our concentration on the deep sense of the countours of a tragic tale of emigration, in this case the escape from poverty to find work - a destiny that has become a reality in the Slavic world in recent decades."
(by Vitězslava Šrámková, Podkarpatská Rus.)

"The centrepiece of the scenography is a multi-purpose caravan, which the performers drag around the stage and open from all sides. They act, dance and sing around it, in it and on it. The most outstanding element of the performance is movement. Without ever becoming descriptive, it is unusually eloquent and extraordinarily inventive. The director is equally inventive in the movement detail, insatiable in the rhythms and courageous and perfectionist in the group compositions. Viliam Dočolomanský has in my view launched himself first and foremost as a major choreographic talent."
(by Nina Vangeli, Economic News)

Music directed by:
Marjana Sadowska

Music dramaturgy:
Marjana Sadowska
Viliam Dočolomanský

Arrangement:
Marjana Sadowska
Viliam Dočolomanský

Instrumentation of songs:
Marjana Sadowska

Production:
Alena Baňáková
Viliam Dočolomanský

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13th International Festival Theatre Pilsen Booklet (Printed Edition)