The show must go on
Fringe physical theatre favourite DEREVO makes a long~awaited return to the Fringe with a show about tragedy in art, that began with a tragedy in life. \f‘i/UI’tlbi Donald Hutera
heatre cart be. some say .\/lt)l(/(/ /)e. a risky business.
fraught \x ith ei‘irotioiial and even physical danger. ln its
higher forms. it has the potential to embrace life—and- death matters. Sometimes tlte death is literal.
In .lune I visited the Polish city of l’o/nan. where the Russian trotrpe Derevo \\ as performing at the Malta International Theatre l'estival. Held on the shores of a large man~made lake currr-leisure activity centre. the festival is in its tvvelfth year. l arrived at a sensitive time. The previous day. on the 2002 festival‘s opening night. an actress in a (ierman company had died in an accident inid—performance. At a meeting the folloyy irrg morning it \\ as decided each ensemble had to determine for itself whether or not to cancel its evening performance.
For the members of Derevo. the best vvay to honour their deceased colleague's memory \\ as to heed the advice of the Queen song: ‘The Shovx .\lust (io ()n.‘ This choice made sense given that their nevx \voi‘k. Lu Divina ('onmiei/iu. staged inside a circus tent. delves vvordlessly into themes of moral responsibility. mortality. celebration. suffering and spiritual redemption. Rife \vith metaphorical transformations and
Christian and pagan iconography. it digs betvveen the lines of
Dante‘s Divine (inner/y via a stream of extravagant images and full-out corporeal expression.
Derevo's \ isceral. frightening and funny 90—minute epic is a nightly battle betxveen theatrical madness and aesthetic
control. Company founder Anton Adassinski plays a sort of
satanic ringmaster. Three other actors. eqtrally brilliant. embody a rogttes~ gallery of witches and wizards. an angelic jester. a bare-breasted rain and a chicken—buggering penititent. plus cameos by Death. l-‘ather Time and a love—struck rabbit.
The major set—piece is a giant turntable. perhaps a vestige of
the works early conception as a ‘death rock intisical‘ entitled Suicide. The soundtrack blends industrial noise. throat singing. Frank /.appa and '(‘liopsticks'.
Lu Divina expands in the memory. 'lt's something more than we are.’ says Atlassinski. ‘l’eoplc tell us: “You have 25 ideas in the perloiinance. You can build from one a whole slimy But \\ c are so hungry to give “lulu.
'l reating live pcrloiiiiance as a sacred amalgam of high arid
Rife with metaphorical transformations and Christian and pagan
iconography, the show is both frightening and funny
lovv art. Derevo packs a diabolical fairgrotmd feeling into the piece that ought to delight fans and convert nevvcomers.
‘\\'e don‘t have any human characters heref Adassinski says. ‘They have no names. lt's the first time we play symbols. It's a fantastic task. btit very difficult to avoid a sock smell.‘ By this he means ‘to be cool‘. something requiring both enormous delicacy and reserves of energy. 'It has to be shadovvs we are playing. The preparation takes six. seven hours. It‘s difficult to speak with people. difficult to see the sun. But if you play we“. dance \vell. every step you take you feel was already done one hundred years ago.‘
Founded in St Petersburg in 1988. Derevo (Russian for ‘tree‘) adheres to a rigorous aesthetic derived from Japan‘s post-\var performance style of butoh. Pale. why and shaven—headed. company members lead lives of monastic theatricality at their current base in Dresden. Red Zone. an exercise in brute metaphysical anarchy. was their unforgettable l‘ringe calling card. Next came Once. an uproariously comic. deeply moving fable of unrequited love that scooped tip a l’ringe first
‘You have to build a performance like a symphony] .-\dassinski says. ‘or poetry.‘ Nothing should be too radical. though. ‘I won’t ptit the end at the beginning. I like it if normal people can see it. not just some intellectual elite. It‘s like sex. in a good way. If you’re working together. breathing in and otrt. you can have a good time.’ ()r. with Derevo. a divine one.
‘People tell us we have 25 ideas, but we are so hungry to give more’
La Divina Commedia, Assembly Big Top, 226 2428, until 26 Aug (not 7, 14, 21), 10pm, £10—£1 1 (29-210).
“What’s on the surface is not what’s underneath’
50 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE
OUTLYING ISLANDS David Greig finds the plot
‘I' it; ire/er iioire a pay .'/|lll a plot below/if It seems a lt;lli<ti’l\(ll}l(: ilbetfl'IlUI‘i fr.,nr a tirairratist oi the stature of Dit/ICI (-jir‘eig. but on reflection. pieces such as r'/i'iir/r>;trr;-ii/ri. lire Cosrrronaut's Last Message to the YVt/Hkt/i he Ohm; Lo/ed r/; the For/he/ SCH/8i U/i/o/r ill in oasti/iora (l't; eqaally fragmented. Grerg. pale
‘0‘. e'igagii‘g. sits oppoSite me. a little i,ii,i;ri.-l‘i:ius.re. as .'/"il(;"i$ are wont to be at Fringe l)!(:ll‘.l(:f‘;35 at the Traverse.
Ut/i/il/lllg lslanrls. his accoont of two ornrthologists .‘riri, (Kiri a reiriotr; Scottish i:;lan<l in tSJISE‘i. in pursuit of t‘(:.'/ non/cits. is f}.'"t; 1)l 'l s .‘rarriiest plays. In it. an oi: “ran with rights to hold sheep and catch birds on ttii; iinrr‘habitetl piano ioins the men. bringing a yun‘g .yt‘xegirr .'.rrt'~ l‘Illl. 'lt's very much .yhat inrglit Peri/oer .rr a memo or: an island between trio young i'ie'i. an (Ml ()l‘it: artr: zr ,ioung .voman.’ says Greig.
The play started life as a radio play. but he insists it was written to be staged. The starting point for Grerg's process was an old book. Island Gomg. by Robert Atkinson. an accoont of Journeys. mainly pre- war. around a succession of Scottish Islands by the author and one John Audley. ‘At a later expedition. Atkinson Just writes: "John Audley did not accompany me on this trip." They'd been so close. that you'd think an explanation of this separation werrld be wOrth a whole chapter, rather than Just a sentence.’ Grerg says. 'I moved from this to a whole speCuIatron about a period where there was a kind of innocence about yOung men. It's not an “in yer face" play. Whenever I near that expression. l flinch. It sounds as it you're raging abOut emotion. None of that relates to my experience of life which rs about emotions being buried, hidden. What's on the Surface is not what's underneath.‘ (Steve Cramer)
I Traverse Theatre. 228 7404, 3—24 Aug, times vary, E '14 (Ed—£8.50).