The last time
Chilean theatre director Juan Carlos Zagal's Teatro Cinema company
appeared at Edinburgh International Festival in 2010, they brought
with them some very dark materials indeed. That was with Sin Singre
(Without Blood), adapted from a novel by Italian
writer Alessandro Baricco, and an original piece, The Man Who Fed
Butterflies. Now they return with the final part of their trilogy,
Histoire d'amour, this time adapted from Regis Jauffret's novel about
a quasi sado-masochistic relationship between an English teacher and
a woman he sees on the underground.
“Histoire d'amour
is a tragic story of two people searching for love
who get lost in a dark labyrinthine abyss,” according to Zagal.
“Their souls get lost and sink because they cannot find a way
out of this encounter that condemns them. This is a story that
shows the emotional instability of many of us nowadays, where the
masculine side is strong, and exerts a strong influence over
the feminine principles of receptiveness ,mysteriousness and
creativity.
“As there is no
such balance between both these principles, we get out of
our minds and turn into mindless people. It also reflects any
kind of abuse committed against someone by means of violence and
domination. It is an obsessive story which points out all we
ignore about love and tolerance , and is very graphic at
times. It shows how we as human beings can act with absolute
indolence towards the people that surround us, which makes
impossible the union,communication or whatever we understand is
the meaning of living together as a couple.”
As with all Teatro
Cinema productions, the really interesting thing beyond such a
harrowing-sounding scenario comes in the telling. As the company name
implies, Zagal, art director Laura Pizarro, designer Luis Alcaide and
multi-media director Montserrat Antequerra have created a unique
fusion of film and theatre techniques that synchronises live
performers with projections that allows the action to flow into more
panoramic scenarios than mere scene changes allow for. Given the
noirish sensibilities of the company's two previous works, Histoire
d'amour wasn't a natural choice for Teatro Cinema, and even at this
stage Zagal expresses reservations.
“I don’t know
yet if it is right for Teatro Cinema,” he says , “and remain
doubtful. It was pure intuition that made us choose it in the hope
that it would lead us somewhere. The novel is related from a
personal point of view. It seems like a long monologue that
strongly describes the psychotic state of mind of one of the
people involved. We noticed its powerful drama and its
cinematographic synthesis. The play is a trip to hell. It holds
the people as prisoners and condemns them to a metaphoric
stress , and gives them no break, condemning their soul. This
made us investigate mental illness and disorders in sexual
behaviour, and the strength that can make us rise or drop us
into the deepest with no transition , from a state of
euphoria to the deepest depression. From light to darkness, a
life full of violent contrasts.”
Histoire d'amour's
place in the trilogy may seem tangential, but Zagal takes a more
lateral view of how they sit together.
“All three pieces
take place in cities,” he says, “and they are all very solitary
and labyrinthine. In all three, as well, there is a search of
that energy we call love and in the in the meeting between
a man and a woman.
In all three, there is the the concept of mise en scene, of the
journey in time
and space of the
story and the characters in an instant way, as in the movies and in
literature.”
With technology so
crucial to the Teatro Cinema experience, the company's approach has
moved on considerably since their last Edinburgh visit.
“Very clearly
there is an evolution in the mixing and melting of languages .Without
the previous pieces the creative committee would not have reached
the visual synthesis offered by Histoire d'amour. One solid problem
in this instant time-space trip is defined by the action of the
actor on stage,his symbolic universe full of constellations of ideas
and emotions, and his real body ,his organic material.
“We work a lot
with the synthetic and expressive movements of the actor ,and his
moving in space.
We've
improved more and more towards the perfect in the use of stage
utensils in combination with virtual settings. We have also improved
the relationship between actor and video, in order to achieve a
greater fluidity.”
Beyond such melding
of forms to create a new theatrical language, for Zagal and co, it is
the story itself that matters.
“We wanted to
begin a journey to the dark and hidden side of ourselves,”
Zagal says,“
and here we are,
with a boat as a nutshell in a rough sea, a little
stranded, and trusting
our theatrical
experience to end the journey.”
Histoire d'amour,
King's Theatre, August 15th-17th, 8pm; August 17th,
2pm.
The Herald, August 15th 2013
ends
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