'Lliure',
the oldest, biggest & the most elegant theatre in Barcelona put on
a new play some time back, which had been presented in 20 countries,
apparently getting thundering applause & standing ovation, as well
as a lot of controversy in all of them. It's called 'Long Life'. It was
staged in other major Spanish cities after Barcelona.
Even
though I am a theatre buff, the reason I mention this one & not
the dozens of others is that it's probably the most unusual play done
with the totally innovated style ever seen before in the history of
theatre productions. The story is anything but fascinating to most
people I guess, unless they are die hard fans of theatre plays like me.
It's about 5 retired old people sharing the same abode (or in a home
for the old, I am not sure) & their daily lives. Sounds dead boring
to most I dare say.
It's
such a new way of presenting the show that interests me, as it's a
serious drama without words, from beginning to end of the 2 hour
duration. The 5 actors are all young, 4 men & a woman. They wore no
make-up at all to portray the characters of advanced age. The
description of the stage decors is minimal, & stark, with one
dangling light bulb from the ceiling. All emotion & the development
of the story depended entirely on the acting.
Some
might think it's not so strange, as miming has long been an
established performing art. But, miming is based on the artist's
exaggerated movements to tell the story with a stony face void of
emotions. This play does the exact opposite. The actors act with their
facial expressions, emotions, feelings & body movements, as in real
life, giving no clue to the audience what they are illustrating.
I
am the kind of fan that values good acting more than the story. Or the
lavish stage set, the special effects, nor the big name stars. These
actors were not even made up as old folks to help them get into
character, so they had to FEEL old; they couldn't change their voice to
let others know they ARE old, & they must TALK to one another to
convey the daily life they led & conflicts they encountered in the
story!
The
play was so successful & well received (seems like I am not the
only nut-case) that the theatre company had started right after
rehearsing a sequel called 'The sound of silence'.
Most intriguing.
Tags: silencedrama
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