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THEATRE PREVIEW
1500m Above The Level Of Jack
Argentinian bathroom drama from pioneering director:
The theatre produced in Buenos Aires in the late 19905 was marked by eclecticism. The peculiarities of the work of Federico Lebn, the director of Mil Ouinientos metros sobre el nivel de Jack (1500m Above The Level Oflack), outline his singular profile, but also place him in a young generation that has engineered a crucial shift in Buenos Aires theatrical production.
Having trained in acting, Leén soon started to write and direct his own performances. With two fellow actors, he founded the Group Of Domestic Theatre in which all members both act and create. Leon says he is only interested in working in theatre when he can operate in the totality of the event. 'Mil quinientos. . . is a written play that was developed during the rehearsal process, like the music, the set and the lighting design,’ he says. ‘Everything is done according to the logic that the scene demands. Nothing can be predicted. The world of the play, the world that the
theatre comedy dance music books
the latest of Lebn’s work. As with A Country Slap, Leon says he was attracted by the peculiarities of the actors who, in this play, are not professionally trained. They include an 80-year-old woman submerged in a bath tub and an eleven-year-old boy. In Leén view, non-actors can achieve a greater degree of reality because they have no formulaic acting techniques to fall back on. Leon likes to create theatrical spaces which are totally synthetic, or which achieve a high degree of reality. This is certainly the case of 1500m Above The Level Of Jack which requires real bathroom equipment on stage. The interaction with an audience is crucial in his plays, not least because he frequently works in small spaces which don’t hold more than 50 people. In such close proximity, every detail can be seen, allowing scope for a broad variety of vocal registers and timbres, and increasing the intensity of the acting. As a director, Leon constantly tunes the acting after every show, provoking in the actors a great state of awareness and highly intense performances. ’The play takes place in a very reduced space,’ says Ledn. 'T he audience is witness to the actors' transformations. It’s a scenic present that will never happen again and that’s always different.’ (Silvia Davini) See hit/ist, right.
play “creates”, is found with the actors and the objects
in the scenic space.’
A Country Slap, in which he worked as playwright and director, was the first of his works to be singled out for praise by both critics and audiences. Emerging from a long rehearsal process, it was based on the intense emotions of two actors who cried without interruption forthe whole performance.
1500m Above The Level Of Jack is
. ' '46 - The sensual drama of flamenco given a fiery update
DANCE/PHYSICAL THEATRE PREVIEW lncrepaci6n
Spanish dancers make for a quickening of the pulse
In their Fringe debut, this Barcelona- based contemporary flamenco company are bound to quicken pulses and import some Spanish spirit and warmth to our northern climes. lncrepaciOn could literally be translated as ’annoying’ or ’treading where one shouldn’t.’ But the all- female group of very young, sultry dancers is more likely to please with passion than aggravate with the angst so typical of flamenco. They definitely know how to give dimension and curve to their slick bodies.
Their latest work d.C. (annus Domini) continues their creative research into the flamenco language. But they still satisfy within the aesthetic parameters of contemporary dance. They‘ve taken
away the frills and kiss-curls to breed an intense simplicity. The new show, based on the structure of a Mass, takes on a sense of weighted, hypnotic ritual suggesting a group in prayer. Feet sensitively beat out rhythms as bodies and arms swirl in spheres of serpentine seduction. Visceral sensuality has become the trademark of the company. Director- choreographers Montse Sanchez and Ramon Baeza have won dance prizes at home and rave reviews from Manila to Cardiff, Switzerland to Cuba. Purists have shuddered at the daring costumes in previous shows, and the fusion that aims to forge flamenco traditions towards an updated gut reality. The shuddering in Edinburgh is bound to be from pleasure at the contagious rhythmic vibes that will get these young women — and the audience — buzzing. (Michelle Man) I See hit/ist, right.
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1500m Above The Level Of Jack
See preview, left. 7500m Above The Level Of Jack (International) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 473 2000, 23-27 Aug (not 25) 70.30pm, £72.50.
Yllana's 666
Dreams and fantasies are imagined and sometimes acted out by four death row prisoners in this scatological comedy from Madrid. See review. Yllana’s 666 (Fringe) Y/lana, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not 27) 10.30pm, 78—79, 24—27 Aug, 72.05am, £9—f70 (£8.50—f9).
Bill Bailey
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He may look like a deranged hippy/cowboy amalgam but Bill Bailey still is the best thing to come out of the South West since Devon custard. And he’s funnier too. Bill Bailey (Fringe) Assemb/y Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 28 Aug, 10.30pm, £70/f72.50 (£9/70).
lncrepacion
See preview, left. IncrepaciOn (Fringe) Scottish International At Dynamic Earth (Venue 78) 530 3557, 78—21 Aug, 70.30pm; 22—28 Aug, 7pm, £9 (f 7).
Dream At The End Of The World
One man’s comic adventures evoke the rich flavour of North Africa. Dream At The End Of The World (Fringe) TOTMA, P/easance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug, 70.45pm, f5/f6 (£5.50/f650).
Russell Peters
Russell Peters: Comedy Chameleon. Living up to his nickname with a hundred different shades of witty banter this Canadian Indian stand-up delivers perceptive insights into human nature. See review. Russell Peters: Comedy Chameleon (Fringe) Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 28 Aug, 71.45pm, [9/1570 (£8/f9).
17-24 Aug 2000 THE UST FESTIVAL GUIDE 51