{"id":110,"date":"2020-05-30T12:58:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=110"},"modified":"2026-06-22T11:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T11:02:58","slug":"theatre-for-sounds-and-souls-or-the-polish-song-of-the-goat-and-its-quest-into-the-impossible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/theatre-for-sounds-and-souls-or-the-polish-song-of-the-goat-and-its-quest-into-the-impossible\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre for Sounds and Souls; or, The Polish <em>Song of the Goat<\/em> and Its Quest into the Impossible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Kalina Stefanova<\/strong><a href=\"#end\" name=\"back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"abstract\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap abstract wp-block-paragraph\">This text is an attempt to delve into the idiosyncratic theatre world of the Polish Song of the Goat Theatre. By focusing on their productions inspired by Shakespeare, it attempts to trace the formation and development of a special \u201cvertical theatre reality\u201d\u2014something of urgent necessity in our time of horizontal, superficial modes of living. It finds this in the combination of the directorial style of Grzegorz Bral, which resembles conducting, the music of Jean-Claude Acquaviva and Maciej Rychly, the mighty poetry of Alicja Bral and the remarkably diverse talent of the acting cast.<br><strong>Keywords:<\/strong> Song of the Goat Theatre, Grzegorz Bral, vertical theatre reality, resurrecting of intuition<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let me take my cue from the motto\nof the Song of the Goat company:\n\u201cTogether we aim at the impossible. Only the impossible is worth achieving.\u201d\nOne does not\njust watch their theatre, listen to it and relish its beauty, one <em>breathes<\/em> this theatre. It is not by\nchance that the word \u201cair\u201d has\noften been evoked by it: \u201cair installations\u201d created by actorsand\n\u201ca sculpture of vibrating air,\u201d for instance, are comparisons used to describe\ntheir show <em>Island<\/em> (inspired by <em>The Tempest<\/em>) (Pulka). Nor by chance, \u201cSong of the Goat,\u201d headed by the extraordinary\ndirector Grzegorz Bral, has since 2009 been one of the main nominees for the (New) Theatrical Realities Award\u2014the\nleading recognition for originality and innovation on European stages and the\nsecond biggest theatre award on the continent. Indeed, this Wroclaw theatre has\nnot only been proving that the immaterial could be made palpable in the most\nmaterial of the arts. They have been creating an outstanding \u201cvertical theatre reality\u201d with a\ndistinctly harmonizing effect\u2014something of urgent necessity, in our time of\nhorizontal, superficial modes of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Correspondingly, there is not\nmuch on the surface of their shows: they are about an hour long and involve few\nprops and no other technique but spotlights, most of those only static. There is\nnothing new in the blend of live music (vocal and instrumental), text and\nmovement that constitutes the basic alphabet of their stage language. However,\nthe uncompromising striving to achieve harmony of the energies\u2014down to the\nlevel of frequencies\u2014that underlies all components of the shows and makes\ndirecting here equal to conducting, opens up amazing depths in the territory of\nthe spirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, it was a biblical line\nthat emerged in my mind when I first saw a show of Song of the Goat some ten years ago: \u201cDo you not know that you\nyourselves are God\u2019s temple and that God\u2019s spirit dwells in you?\u201d (1\nCorinthians 3.16). And it has been invariably evoked by their theatre, when\nI\u2019ve had the chance to see it again. As a whiff of otherworldly wisdom, illuminating\nand elevating, as a mere reminder and a palpable lament for lost harmony, as a\nrevelation, as compunction for our having neglected this pure spirit in us . .\n. Or all these connotations altogether, blended into something which could be\ndeemed a very rare, if not again impossible, combination: a near-metaphysical\nexperience with a strongly topical edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 id=\"video-1\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video 1<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ISLAND \/ WYSPA 2017 (trailer)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bPIdidohw2o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trailer of <em>Island<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such is the case with <em>Island <\/em>and<em> Hamlet\u2014a Commentary<\/em>, both of them the result of the very fruitful co-operation of Grzegorz Bral and the young, highly talented dramaturg and poetess Alicja Bral, who joined the company in 2015. Two shows that are, I dare say, true masterpieces. The Polish critic Leszek Pulka went even further, calling <em>Island<\/em>: \u201c. . . a theatre masterpiece comparable to the legendary <em>Apocalypsis cum Figuri<\/em>\u201d (Pulka).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The comparison with Grotowski is\nthe most frequent the critics have come up with when writing about the work of Song of the Goat. Then, it\u2019s with\nGardzienice Theatre and Tadeusz Kantor. On a broader scale, the references have\nbeen with theatre anthropology. The spiritual genes of these Polish theatre\nmasters are indeed there. Some\nmembers of the original company (founded by Bral and Anna Zubrzycki, in 1996)\nhave worked with Gardzienice. Also, Song\nof the Goat was sheltered by the Grotowski Center for four years, before\ngetting its own home, in 2002\u2014a C14 monastery refectory with its own\nmagnificent atmosphere. And the theatre does \u201cuse the tools of theatre\nanthropology and the lab attitude to the show preparation process,\u201d as Agniezka\nGornicka notes in her review of <em>Island <\/em>(Gornicka).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has to be underlined, though,\nthat the preparation doesn\u2019t end with the premiere. Song of the Goat define their shows (on their web site) as\n\u201cconstantly evolving creative research projects.\u201d I was lucky to witness a most\nstriking result of this never-ending show-development approach on two\nconsecutive evenings in early December 2017: <em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary <\/em>(premiered on July 2, the same year) was so\nheavily reworked, literarily overnight, that from just a good show with some\nobvious misses it became a breathtaking piece. This did not come about as a\nfull surprise: on the second evening, before the show, Bral warned the audience\nthat a lot of changes had been done. \u201cFor this is also a research,\u201d he\nunderlined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 id=\"video-2\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video 2<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hamlet - a commentary\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EpKqFWk24qQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, there is something in the language of Song of the Goat that gives the theatre reality they create a universal appeal, exceeding by far the range of the laboratory type of theatre. This, to me, comes from it being akin to the work of another famous Pole, Jan Kott, and to what underlies the wide and long-lasting impact of his pivotal work <em>Shakespeare\u2014Our Contemporary<\/em>. Kott\u2019s analyses of the Bard\u2019s characters, situations and conflicts are undoubtedly brilliant, yet what\u2019s more important is that he was, in the first place, interested in the art of life and only then in the art of theatre. He was peeling the layers off the Shakespearean plays, I believe, because he sensed that in them, as in the Bible, there are coded \u201centrances\u201d to the \u201ctunnel\u201d between our world of the material and that of the spirit\u2014entrances hidden behind words and appearances. And he did manage to pinpoint some of them. Then, he sensed that the theatre nature of the world may well be a code, too, to the everlasting mysterious dance between the visible and the invisible, and thus to the eternal secrets of life. So, the art of theatre could well serve as an \u201centrance\u201d to the \u201ctunnel\u201d? Or as a chance for us to have \u201cthe eyes of our heart\u201d (Ephesians 1.15) opened to that something which we do not see but may be where we may happen to be coming from, something which we may carry as essential wisdom in us?! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vertical\ntheatre reality that Song of\nthe Goat creates is exactly like a \u201ctunnel\u201d to the invisible. They do\nnot go about stripping life of its appearances; they simply skip the process. For\nthey aim at entering directly into the territory of the pure spirit. And they\ndo so with the humbleness of a monk. There is nothing here of the tacit\nhaughtiness of the initiated-in-the-secrets gurus, who talk mainly to those who\nare \u201cable\u201d to understand, or from the stylized detachment of ritual, for that\nmatter. Song of the Goat\u2019s\ntheatre, so to speak, tiptoes into the territory of the spirit\u2014with a special\ncare and tenderness, with trepidation, lest they ruin its fine structure. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Grzegorz-Bral.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Grzegorz-Bral.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Grzegorz-Bral-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Grzegorz-Bral-768x492.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Director Grzegorz Bral. Photo: Bral School of Acting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not by chance is Grzegorz Bral interested in, and works with, the frequencies of sound and music. Together with the two composers of the company, Jean-Claude Acquaviva and Maciej Rychly, they have a special ear for the energies of the fine waves and their potential to harmonize us. And they use this in their shows in order to help <em>accord<\/em> us to the harmony of the spirit (the divine, or nature, call it what you will) that we are more and more getting in discord with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From its very start, the company has been interested in\nfolklore and ethno music from the world over, as well as in liturgical chants.\nIt has been using them as a springboard for its exploration of the territory of\nthe spirit and at times as a direct, tested way to \u201cgo the other side of\nthings\u201d (as one of the main accents of <em>Island<\/em>\ngoes). The presence of a live horn bagpipe\u2019s sound in some of the shows\ncertainly adds to a special meditative effect in us, as if breathing with the\nuniverse and melting into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not solely via music and sound that Song of the Goat strives at and\nachieves harmony though. \u201cToday\u2019s theatre is about images and stories,\u201d says\nBral. \u201cOurs is about how music becomes theatre and how we balance on the edge\nbetween music and theatre.\u201d In effect, the polyphonic nature of music here\npermeates all other stage components, so everything rests in a polyphonic\nunity, with harmonized energies and \u201cinherent musicality\u201d (Bral). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And since this is, indeed, not theatre about stories, the\nactors\u2019 singing (as well as their acting) is not primarily aimed at creating\ncharacters and relationships. It\u2019s more of a philosophical act\u2014embodying and\ndefending the idea of our being spiritual beings in the first pla\u00ad\u00adce. There\nare moments when it\u2019s as if the actors are not made of flesh but are just sound\nvibrations, extending far beyond the contours of their bodies\u2014similar to the\ncharacters of El Greco: not merely people but flames. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Fluidity<\/em> is another key word here.\nThe components of this theatre melt so naturally into each other that they form\n\u201ca moving painting, a musical poem and physical theatre at the same time,\u201d as\nChochlik Kulturalnywrites about <em>Island<\/em>.\nAnd it\u2019s not only that the \u201cborders\u201d between them stop existing. It\u2019s more that\nthe harmony permeating them makes the experience of this theatre feel like\nwatching a first-class tai-chi master, who looks and feels like a visible part\nof air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All this amounts to a special\ntype of abstractness. Not rational but sensory. The contact with the audience\nhere, as Bral says, is \u201con a sensory level.\u201d The appeal is to our intuition.\nThis type of abstractness is, naturally, connected with the nature of the\nprocess of reduction of what is material (in its most usual meanings, including\nthe canon of the drama) to its basic minimum. On the surface, this may seem like a\ntypically modern type of deconstruction, yet it\u2019s the very opposite. Or rather,\nit\u2019s a sort of <em>constructive\ndeconstruction<\/em>. For\nit\u2019s done with a very constructive aim: for the sake of reaching to the core of\nharmony and for the sake of our inner\nharmonization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How this process has been evolving and how it has been\ncontributing to the creation and development of the unique vertical theatre reality of Song of the Goatcan be traced in four of their shows,\ninspired by Shakespeare, created during the last decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 id=\"video-3\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video 3<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MACBETH TEATR PIE\u015a\u0143 KOZ\u0141A UK Tour Trailer\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WUTYRXMpsgk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trailer of <em>Macbeth<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their <em>Macbeth<\/em> (2008), the essence of the play\u2019s text was retained but was not delivered in the usual way. It was sung, chanted, wailed\u2014something like a recitative or simply one more \u201cvoice\u201d in the polyphonic choir of sounds, parts of melodies and music. I will never forget one of the scenes, very typical of the essence of the show:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several plain wooden tables were placed next to each other, forming something like a podium, and in front of it a witch (just one) and Lady Macbeth were planning the first murder. Up on the podium was the King. Behind it were the rest of the actors, with their incantations and tunes. The two women were not merely talking but as if blowing the words up in the air towards the King\u2014the manner in which they were pronouncing them, the music of their voices, the behaviour of their bodies all produced that effect. The King started to fall asleep and, as if turning into a feather, was, as it were, becoming immaterial and flying away, going to another world . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The feeling that this was actually happening, despite the\nactor\u2019s body being just several metres in front of us, was palpably real. It\nwas in this scene that one realized that the drama there was far beyond the\nfact that human bodies were being murdered; it was rather in the fight for andon the territory of the human soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 id=\"video-4\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video 4<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Songs of Lear&quot; Song of the Goat Theatre\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vqL2DDXYoG0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trailer of <em>King Lear<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Macbeth<\/em> was followed by a take on <em>King Lear<\/em>:<em> The Songs of Lear <\/em>(2012)\u2014an even less conventional theatre piece which, unlike <em>Macbeth,<\/em> is still in the Song of the Goat repertoire. Yet, its (again) 70 minutes not only further expand the very notion of what theatre <em>could be<\/em> but also bring the audience back to the essential theatrical experience of a purifying catharsis\u2014something which contemporary stages very rarely dare to aspire to or, for that matter, manage to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image7.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image7-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image7-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Songs of Lear<\/em>. Photo: Z. Warzynski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That the immaterial could be even further \u201cmaterialized\u201d the company proved with its next show inspired by Shakespeare, <em>Island <\/em>(2016)<em>. <\/em>It\u2019s actually the most ethereal of the four works in question, despite having the biggest cast: 13 actors and six dancers. The presence of dancers is just one of several firsts here. I\u2019ll take the liberty to share with you what it felt like to experience it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"island-or-on-the-other-side-of-things\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Island<\/em><\/strong><strong>,<\/strong><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><strong>or On the Other Side of Things<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We get there quickly, without\neven noticing how it happens. Two women, clad in black tights, enter the almost\ndark, empty stage and stand facing us, behind each other, slightly askew and at\nquite a distance, with their heads lit by pinpoint spotlights from above. In a\ndark mirror at the back of the stage the reflections of their heads create\nsomething like a never-ending line of dim lights, as if fading into the very\ndepth of the universe. The woman at the back has her hand on her mouth, the\nwoman in front speaks: \u201cI met him in late autumn.\/ I was in despair . . .\/\nThough he appeared, his soul was absent. . . .\u201d (A. Bral). Then, a short dialogue,\nall spoken by her, outlines her being shown by Prospero the path of salvation:\ngoing beyond, to the other side of things. Is she Miranda? Will there actually\nbe a concrete Prospero? What follows makes the answers to these questions of no\nimportance at all. The rest of the cast, all clad in the same way, enter from\nthe side of the audience and head in Indian file to the back. While passing\nunder the pinpoint spotlights from above, their heads make a dizzying sharp\nexchange of light and shadow. Together with the dense dark of the silhouettes,\nthis creates the feeling of a tide that sweeps us along that road to infinity\nin the mirror. We are already in Prospero\u2019s demented mind, as the program has\nprepared us beforehand. Or inside our own minds? In either case, not here\nanymore but on the other side of things\u2014in the beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are no colorful butterflies\nthere, no flowers or endless green meadows, no white angels. It\u2019s a world of\nshadows\u2014of floating shadows; nothing there has a fixed contour. Mirrors standing\non all three walls are removed and simple chairs are hung there askew, creating\na web of geometric lines. The mirrors are then swirled around the constantly\nmoving bodies, then placed on the floor and again back on the walls\u2014their\nreflections forming something like kaleidoscope figures, crisscrossing with the\npale light exuded by faces, hands and feet in the dark. Remember the \u201cair\ninstallations\u201d and the \u201csculpture of vibrating air\u201d? Indeed, they form and\ndissolve in a second, like clouds in a windy sky. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3b.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3b-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3b-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Island<\/em>. Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The dancers\u2019 bodies also appear to have no stable borders, though not for the usual reasons. It\u2019s part of the choreography (by Iv\u00e1n P\u00e9rez) and a stroke of genius: to make them look as if they are trying to achieve a form, at least for a short while, as if to help us see something for sure and, thus, believe our eyes\u2014the eyes of the body, not to have the feeling it\u2019s a hallucination. For aren\u2019t we so much in need of concreteness\u2014of something which we can see and touch, so that we deem it \u201creal\u201d? <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4b.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4b-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4b-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Island.<\/em> Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe light has a unique role here,\u201d writes the Polish colleague Ewa Bak. \u201cIt sculpts, covers and uncovers like a demiurge, covers and uncovers or preoccupies. It creates complementary images. The images in the carefully moved mirrors set at different angles paint contexts, a shadow theatre, constructions. They change the meanings of reality or define it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, nothing here is like our\nworld. Or maybe this is the world inside us as it\u2019s supposed to be: beautiful,\nsimple, and tender as a caress? Or we are the shadows here\u2014the shadow of what\u2019s\nleft of us in a world without shadows, as in the dark fairy tales? The powerful\ntext gives some possible answers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-background-color has-background has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">My hands are empty\/ My heart ragged by cruel news\/ I lost myself in pursuit of prosperity\/ Roots of humanity deprived\/ from tenderness by the speed of life\/ My conscious invigilated by commercials\/ sells body, speech and heart\/ I estimate the price of my life\/ Greed\/ The most cruel prison\/ In which the prisoner and the guard are one\/ This is the very essence of this blind solitude . . .\/ But we can wake up\/ We can change heart\/ I stand alone I take a breath\/ I close my eyes\/ I see you there. (ALICJA BRAL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike in the previous two\nShakespeare-inspired shows, the text here is very important and, thus, very\naccented. Most of it is by Alicja Bral, who is also the dramaturg of the show.\nShe has also interwoven in the libretto texts from Sophocles\u2019 <em>Antigone <\/em>and Aristophanes\u2019 <em>Birds<\/em>, as well as Georgian and Greek\ntraditional songs. The text is recited and sung <em>en face<\/em>, usually by one\nactor, but repeated and echoed by the rest, who form not just a choir but\nsomething like a classical chorus. And if what they say at times sounds too\ndirect or even didactic, maybe it\u2019s because we need to be more palpably\nshattered in order to wake up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is it the beyond that talks to us\nor is it our own consciousness? Or it\u2019s our consciousness as an extension of\nthe beyond? Or is it the demented who talk to us in their hallucinations or\u2014why\nnot?\u2014in their presence in both worlds at once? The demented, these shadows of\nour material-focused world who, while here, could serve as an exhibit of what\nwe are when we ignore the spirit?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"310\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image6-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image6-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image6-2-300x116.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image6-2-768x298.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Island<\/em>. Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another question then: to what extent could this theatre be considered political? It <em>is<\/em> a political theatre, I have no doubt, but not in the conventional way. It has to do with a trend that I might call a \u201cpolitics-of-the-soul-theatre,\u201d which I think started in Eastern Europe with the works of another extraordinary director, the Latvian Alvis Hermanis, whose phrase \u201cpunching with tenderness\u201d sums it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, <em>Island<\/em> is at once like a caress in a dream\u2014a caress as if of an\nangel\u2019s feather\u2014and an outcry against our voluntary discarding of the spirit,\nthe utmost beauty and harmony we have in us. This show, I dare say, is as close\nas theatre can get to pure spirit. Its crystal fragility is coupled with a\ndisarming purity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interestingly,\nthe sense of purity here is strengthened by a very visible inner conducting of\nthe music. It\u2019s done by two of the actors, within the singing, in a very\nsimple, matter-of-fact and yet distinctly tender, loving manner, without any\nwhiff of alienation. This creates a sense of spontaneity, sincerity, even of\ncredibility\u2014what we experience is happening here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIs Shakespeare in the room?\u201d asks Pulka and his answer is, \u201cYes, in a storm of breaths and loving gestures.\u201d He\u2019s also present, I\u2019d add, in the way the show manages to raise some of the invisible curtains before our eyes, so that we know more about why we are here and how to live our life; that is, the very essence of Shakespeare\u2019s oeuvre is imbued in the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Likewise, when setting to work on<em> Hamlet\u2014a Commentary <\/em>(2017)<em>, <\/em>Grzegorz Bral, Alicja Bral and the\ncast made this most difficult of choices: \u201cto express what was merely mentioned\nand not said explicitly by the author,\u201d as the program puts it.And again, the focus here is on\nenergies; in this case, those that brought about the drama that we know and\nwere set in motion well before it took place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"hamlet-a-commentary-or-hamlet-the-prequel\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Hamlet\u2014a\nCommentary<\/em><\/strong><strong>, or<\/strong><strong><em> Hamlet<\/em><\/strong><strong>: The Prequel<\/strong><strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under monastery arches, on an\niron bed, placed slightly askew and quite near the audience, lies a dead man.\nBehind the bed, facing us, stand the relatives and the main figures of the\ncourt; in front of it, a bag-piper. A piercing bagpipe sound and a shriek of\nlamentation start at once, more like a siren than an expression of grief. Then,\nthe mourners rapidly draw back. One young man remains and sits on the bed: the\nyoung Hamlet, now alone with his father\u2019s dead body. It\u2019s the night of the\nvigil, after the day of the murder of Hamlet, the King\u2014two months before the\nplay we know is to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Very much in the style of Song of\nthe Goat<em>,<\/em> what follows has nothing to\ndo with what actually happened and how; that is, with the<em> action<\/em> details. For the major reckonings in Shakespeare are\nbetween the human world and the invisible one; they are arranged on the\nterritory of the human soul and only come out in the open in human destinies.\nDespite the intense stage action, the real action always takes place on the\nterritory of the soul. And true to Shakespeare, that\u2019s where Song of the Goat transports us in <em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only here the souls dwell in\nthree dimensions: our world, the world of the dead and the world between. And\nto put it within our grasp\u2014again this so necessary concreteness because of our\nalready so ingrained rationalism!\u2014the bulk of the well-known characters are\nhere too. Plus some more whose non-appearance in the play we rarely question:\nthe mother of Ophelia and a sister of Hamlet, with white faces and deep shadows\nunder their eyes\u2014another bow to our need for conventional images of the dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hand of\nthe dead king trembles, reaches to his face and removes the funeral mask; then,\nhe rises up, with an automatic gesture lights a cigarette and in utmost dismay\nlooks around: at all these people who obviously think the death of his body was\nthe very end of him too. He tries to draw their attention, to talk to them,\nbut, of course, they don\u2019t hear or see him at all. He shouts\u2014in vain. Then, his\nbewilderment transforms into amusement, and he starts imitating them: the\ntheatricality of life, its propensity for the ceremonial and, ultimately, its pretense.\nIn all that time, from the moment he\u2014or rather his soul\u2014leaves his body, he\ndoes not for a moment look unnatural, artificial or false; it\u2019s the living ones\nwho look as if they are on a stage. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-0-fot.-Mateusz-Bral.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-0-fot.-Mateusz-Bral.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-0-fot.-Mateusz-Bral-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-0-fot.-Mateusz-Bral-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary<\/em>. Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the scenes depicting the relationship between these two dimensions are at once heartrending and nostalgically philosophical. Hamlet, the King, tries to interfere, to comment, then just to caress and be caressed\u2014he puts his head under Gertrude\u2019s palm. Sadly, the visibility and sensibility are in only one direction. It\u2019s we, the inhabitants of this world, who remain the blind, no matter how much we swear that only what we can see and touch is real. It\u2019s only Ophelia who senses the presence of the king\u2019s soul\u2014maybe because what she also senses is that she is about to join him soon.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-1-fot.-Katarzyna-Chmura-Cegie\u0142kowska-dla-Warszawskich-Spotka\u0144-Teatralnych.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-113\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-1-fot.-Katarzyna-Chmura-Cegie\u0142kowska-dla-Warszawskich-Spotka\u0144-Teatralnych.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-1-fot.-Katarzyna-Chmura-Cegie\u0142kowska-dla-Warszawskich-Spotka\u0144-Teatralnych-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Hamlet-1-fot.-Katarzyna-Chmura-Cegie\u0142kowska-dla-Warszawskich-Spotka\u0144-Teatralnych-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary.<\/em> Photo: Katarzyna Chmura-Cegielkowska<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image2-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image2-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image2-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image2-2-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary<\/em>. Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More unforgettable scenes follow, but the pinnacle is the end, when thin paper spills in the hands of all characters are lit. The burning patches quickly fly up towards the arches, turn into white ashes in the air and start very slowly to fall\u2014as if eternity itself drifts over the characters, spreads on them and envelops them\u2014and us too. Again, like the shadow world in<em> Island<\/em>, with no special technique involved, yet with an effect that could leave all clever computer-generated tricks standing. Of course, it\u2019s not the first time that burning paper has been used in the theatre. It\u2019s the splitting of dimensions and their parallel existence that we have been witnessing for an hour already that, in combination with the slow-motion floating ashes, takes our breath away and leaves us literally not daring to move, lest we lose the power to see through\u2014to the beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3-2-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary. <\/em>Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image4-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary. <\/em>Photo: Mateusz Bral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a drama about energy that demands to be revealed and Hamlet is its medium,\u201d reads the show\u2019s program. Now it\u2019s Hamlet, the King, through whose eyes, as if through a keyhole in a classical four-wall theatre, we see or rather <em>experience<\/em> the energies\u2014both of the visible and the invisible worlds. And again, as in the rest of Song of the Goat\u2019s shows, everything material is reduced to the minimum, and what is left is used for communication, entirely via the vibration of sound and, for that matter, the intensely charged silences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike<em> Island<\/em>, there are no dancers here but, as in <em>Island<\/em>, the text is accented. And again, it zeroes in on the very\ncore of the problems of our materialistic world. The inner conducting is\napplied here, too, and there is something in the performance of the\nextraordinary cast that makes one feel that they themselves are in a state of\nconstant dismay\u2014dismay at what could be \u201cseen\u201d not only when being on the other\nside of things but also when looking from there to the distorted state of souls\non our \u201cside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It takes great courage to use the\nlanguage of harmony to talk about disharmony. Especially when it comes to\nvisiting the abyss, where what is to torment and rule the world of Hamlet that\nwe know was possibly distilled. And it takes great courage to make it sound so\npoignantly contemporary, as it does in the verses of Alicja Bral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of main things that explain\nthe nature of Shakespeare\u2019s genius, according to Jan Kott, is that \u201che gave an\ninner awareness to passion; cruelty ceased to be merely physical. Shakespeare\ndiscovered moral hell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many contemporary productions of\nShakespeare concentrate exactly on this moral hell in the works of the Bard by\ncreating a heavily material, visual equivalent to it. They revel in that double\naccent. Song of the Goat, on\nthe contrary, chooses to contrast it with moral heaven, creating the chance for\nus to experience harmony and attune to its waves. That is why getting into the\ndepths of their unique vertical theatre reality has in the end the purifying\neffect of a prayer. More than that: it has the effect of the angels\u2019 coming, as\nin the final scenes of <em>Faust,<\/em> in an\nattempt to try and save our souls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Striving for salvation in our\nworld and in our time, and via theatre at that? This may sound next to\nimpossible. Well, for Song of the Goat\n\u201conly the impossible is worth achieving.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"bibliography\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bibliography<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Bak, Ewa. \u201c37. Warsaw Theatre Meetings, Island, Bral, Song of the Goat Theatre.\u201d <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Okiem Widza (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/okiem-widza.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Okiem Widza<\/a><\/em>, 1 Dec. 2016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The Bible<\/em>.\nAuthorized King James Version. Oxford UP, 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Bral,\nAlicja. Program for <em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary<\/em>. Playbill, 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Chochlik Kulturalny (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chochlikkulturalny\" target=\"_blank\">Chochlik Kulturalny<\/a>. Post on <em>Island<\/em>. <em>Facebook<\/em>, 31 Mar. 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Gornicka, Agnieszka. \u201cIsland, In Depth of Despair.\u201d <em>teatrdlawas.pl<\/em>,<em> <\/em>3 Apr. 2017. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/piesnkozla.pl\/spektakle#178-wyspa\" target=\"_blank\">See here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Kott, Jan. <em>Shakespeare Our Contemporary<\/em>. Methuen &amp; Co, 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Pulka, Leszek.\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/teatralny.pl\/recenzje\/wyspa-skarbow,1804.html\">Treasure Island<\/a>.\u201d <em>teatralny.pl<\/em>, 28 Dec. 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Program\nfor <em>Hamlet\u2014a Commentary<\/em>. Playbill, 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Song of the Goat. <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Song of the Goat Theatre (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/piesnkozla.pl\/en\" target=\"_blank\">Song of the Goat Theatre<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Stefanova-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123\" style=\"width:150px;height:150px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>Kalina Stefanova<\/strong>, PhD, is author\/editor of 16 books: 14 books on theatre, four of which in English, launched in New York, London and Wroclaw; and two works of fiction, published in nine countries, in two editions in China. She has been a Visiting Scholar\/Lecturer world-wide. In 2016, she had the privilege to be appointed as Visiting Distinguished Professor of the Arts School of Wuhan University as well as a Distinguished Researcher of the Chinese Arts Criticism Foundation of Wuhan University. She served as IATC\u2019s Vice President for two mandates (2001\/2006) and as its Director of Symposia for two mandates (2006\u20132010). Since 2001, she has been regularly serving as an evaluation expert for cultural and educational programs of the European Commission. Currently, she is Full Professor of Theatre and Criticism at NATFA, Sofia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2020 Kalina Stefanova<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-topic","tag-special-front"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":473,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/poland-internet-theatre-and-insufficient-state-support-for-the-artists\/","url_meta":{"origin":110,"position":0},"title":"POLAND: Internet-theatre and Insufficient State Support for the Artists","author":"Kalina Stefanova","date":"May 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomasz Mi\u0142kowski* Theatres in Poland have been closed since March 12, 2020. Likewise, cinemas, restaurants, cafes and sports facilities. The pandemic has frozen economic and social life. The theatre\u2014after a short, initial period of shock\u2014has moved temporarily to the internet; actually, it has had a presence there for a long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Covid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-pl-400.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":496,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/slovakia-virtual-centenary-of-slovak-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":110,"position":1},"title":"SLOVAKIA: Virtual Centenary of Slovak Theatre","author":"Kalina Stefanova","date":"May 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Zuzana Ulicianska* There is never a right time for a crisis. However, the pandemic hit Slovak theatre at an extremely sensitive time. On March 1, 2020, a\u00a0special programme, combining opera, ballet and drama, made in honour of the centenary of Slovak Theatre, took place in the historic building of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Covid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-svk-400.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":911,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/the-new-soundscape-of-global-culture-editorial-note\/","url_meta":{"origin":110,"position":2},"title":"The New Soundscape of Global Culture: Editorial Note","author":"Kalina Stefanova","date":"June 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Octavian Saiu* This special topic of Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques feels genuinely . . . special, as it reflects the deep, eternal relationship between two artforms that share so much, yet remain fundamentally independent. What they share is not only an elementary reliance on sound and presence; they share the same\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Special Topic&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Special Topic","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/special-topic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/06\/Octavian-Saiu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":398,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/introductory-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":110,"position":3},"title":"Introductory Words","author":"Kalina Stefanova","date":"May 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yana Meerzon* Dear reader, As we prepare the June 2020 issue (#21) to be released, we find ourselves in a new world of social distancing, self-isolation and developing anxieties for our health and economic wellbeing. This is the world that we could not imagine or anticipate even a few months\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Meerzon.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":222,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/time-chance-and-space-stan-lais-newest-work-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":110,"position":4},"title":"Time, Chance and Space: Stan Lai\u2019s Newest Work, Ago","author":"Kalina Stefanova","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yu Kuo-Hua* Ago, written and directed by Stan Lai. Performed in Mandarin Chinese. Set and Costume Design: Sandra Woodall. Lighting: Michael Lee-zenChien. Projections: Ethan Wang. Company: Performance Workshop Shanghai. Venue: Theatre Above, Shanghai, China. 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With a playing time of over five hours, Stan Lai\u2019s latest work,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":176,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/staging-postcommunism-alternative-theatre-in-eastern-and-central-europe-after-1989\/","url_meta":{"origin":110,"position":5},"title":"Staging Postcommunism: Alternative Theatre in Eastern and Central Europe After 1989","author":"Kalina Stefanova","date":"April 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Edited by Vessela S. 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Whatever one calls it, all these terms\u2014coined by experimental and\/or confrontational theatre artists world-wide over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/Author-Don-Rubin-YU-Performed-Imaginaries-and-The-Kwagh-Hir-Review-200x300-1-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Image3-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1240,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/1240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}