Theatre
‘ real th i ng
,L Steve Cramer went to 5;, Barcelona to discuss the
reality with Jordi Milan and the cast of the International Festival’s NUTS COCONUTS, and came away questioning the roles we all play in life.
/
everal years ago. I walked into a camera shop to pick up some snaps. The man behind the counter couldn‘t find them and eventually turned back to me and said: 'I‘m sorry. it’s my new assistant. She’s a total bitch.‘ Why was I shocked? It's . not the language that caused the affront: after all. we might overhear such words at our own pub table. No. what discomforted me was the violation of context. a . transgression of the role of customer and r « shopkeeper that disrupted the theatre of everydaylife. "/ In a Barcelona cafe. director Jordi Milan creates a neat physical demonstration of how to subvert roles. He carefully takes off his spectacles and balances them on my forearm. which is on the table between us. He then quickly snatches them off my arm. He repeats this a couple of times. and we both wind up giggling. He‘s using a translator to speak to me. but this little gesture between us is more articulate than anything said. What is said is fascinating. ‘In life there is a lot of theatre. you're the journalist. I’m the director. there's a waiter — everyone has to play a role.‘ he says. ‘I want the audience to feel like kids again. When we were kids we gathered round and we had a set of rules. And roles. like I will be the soldier and these will be the headquarters. So with the show. the audience plays a game. For me theatre is the place to get rid of repressions. As a theatre practitioner you have to be introverted. because if you‘re not. you have nothing inside to release.‘ And liberation of repressions is what Nuts Cor-()me is all about. Those who remember Blinded by Love. Milan’s 1997 International Festival hit. won't need much persuading to come along to this new piece. In the earlier event. a movie is shown. and members of the audience. actually the cast. begin to leap to their feet and complain about the lilm. Then. in a brilliant transition. the characters in the film burst through the screen and harangue each other. the false audience and the real audience. Nuts ('omNuts has a similar feel. If you're in
64 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE l l--18 Aug 200:")
the audience at one of Milan‘s shows. you‘re -