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WHITE MAGICVictor Flury
Theatre on Podol took part in the 1989 International Theatre Festival, presenting on that occasion "The Popular Mystery" The irreverent version of MSND now rounds off the first impression we had of the group: the twelve Ukraine actors don't miss a theatrical trick. On the contrary - and perhaps because of their ownership of "The theatre of Podol - the main ingredient for them consists of mixing and molding together all the possibilities of each role. In this way they augment the classical approach with a transcendent spirit which is determined by the dialogue for its insertion into the comedy, shaping the action and leaving out what doesn't fit. This quality allowed numerous audience members in Mexico to follow the story without problem - helped by a preliminary explanation and the opportune use of some Spanish words during the course of the piece. However, that doesn't justify the regrettable fact that they did not distribute a programme - an essential item, whatever its intended function. Vitaly Malakhov profitted very well from his special talents - going from place to place with complete freedom on the avenues and corridors of Shakespeare’s text - jumping from frenetic activity to wild clowning - from slapstick (the "gag" belonging to silent films) to modern dance; from a refined farce of sentiments to the theatre of the absurd. (A small example: Hippolyta seduces a donkey, to the strains of "Nature Boy"), This re-reading of Shakespeare by Malakhov works in the midst of such variety, under one major premise in the turning of everything into its opposite, beginning with the basic conversion of night into day and vice versa. The midsummer night suggests an entrancing atmosphere in which nothing is impossible. The shadows and the moon enhance the longings of repressed love - and the same ? is suffered by the ? puppets - unfaithful and fickle, inconsequential and always moving.First white magic: two plus two can equal five. The music, and the light, which constantly falls on the figures, affirms this. But the day has its laws. There will be a wedding, and a group of actors must entertain their sweethearts and their competitors. The actors carry it out in front of group of nobles in a rigid atmosphere underlined by an equally rigid tradition - something that they tried out earlier in the freedom of the woods. As in Hamlet, the actors become spectators of the fiction which we are watching. Theatre within theatre. In this way, they usurp our role, putting themselves in our place. And it is here that we must ask ourselves - what do we become? The answer is almost obvious, but completely unusual. If they become spectators, we, the audience, end up by being fictitious. This is the second magic of A Midsummer Nights Dream -according to the magnificent proposal of El Podol - and no doubt also according to William Shakespeare. Source: La NACION 14 mar 1992 |