A Grotesque Dispute

Author Lucie Dercsényi

The ballet ensemble in Ostrava introduced another premiere of the season. This time a brand new piece was chosen by theatre's dramaturgy team with the musical score by Clarinet Factory and Alan Vitouš. Three clarinets and a bass clarinet along with drums accompany performers on stage, creating "music without borders", a mixture of skilled clarinet play, classical music education, and a bit of etno music, jazz and electronic music. A two-hour musical composition was supposed to animate a libretto by Marek Pivovar, who, inspired by a theatre play by Pierre Carlet de Marivaux de Chamblain wrote his own eponymous story called The Dispute.

Pivovar, in a search for central motif eventually came to the question if it is usually a man or a woman, who becomes unfaithful in a relationship first. This idea is then further developed, which means that no less than thirteen dancers are included in the performance. However, their presence – contrary to authors' expectations – adds nothing to the immediacy of the piece.

A count and a countess, bored with their long-lasting relationship ask the aforementioned, "inevitable" question. In consequence, four babies are kidnapped and eventually brought up by servants Carise and Mesra in a complete isolation from their surroundings. At the age of eighteen they are released from their prisons to learn what reality is – two men and two women leave, psychologically unaffected (which is rather unlikely), their long-term isolation and start getting to know themselves both through mirrors and interactions with others. At the same time the debauched company secretly watch them and enjoy their experiment (ironically enough, it is just them who find the whole thing amusing as a spectator cannot help being rather bored from time to time). Eventually between the four some "overwhelming passions seize both masters and their servants alike." This in fact totally impairs modus operandi of court society and suggests the beginning of a new era.

To get the spectator more into the plot and make him or her understand it, the whole piece starts with an image of something like human creation, full of lamentation and Spartakiad-like scenes. Choreographer Igor Vejsada then continues with scenes of lavish, court entertainment and wannabe erotic teasing, however, everything looks rather constrained and unlikely. As for dance scenes, both solo and group ones, they lack especially in the first part of the piece appropriate vivacity and more inventive plasticity. Igor Vejsada also performed on the opening night the role of Goldenhead, the guide to the plot the better understanding of which is further supported by two actors, declaiming parts of libretto.

The character of Goldenhead is an apparent allusion to Louis XIV of France not only due to his gold costume, but also his Baroque-like gestures - Vejsada performed the role in a rather forced manner, which was probably deliberate. Still there is no ground for scenic bustle, artistically as incoherent as the whole piece itself. The best parts of the piece are those performed by Églé, Azor, Adine and Mesrin – the individuals selected for the experiment. Their dance passages show some plasticity, mutual responsiveness and spontaneity. The proper physical expression is provided by Barbora Kaufmannová – she boasts some finely executed high leg positions and sensitivity to the swirling moods and changes of the energy flow in duets, Lukáš Lepold, emphatic in expression, masterful in tracking the changing spirals in partnership and Yuriko Kitamura with ephemeral expression.

It is evident that The Dispute is an attempt to create an unconventional scenical installation. However, even when reading the original story one has to read some sentences several times in order to understand them at all, which leads to some scepticism regarding the original text itself. No wonder that the authors of the piece fail to make the story clear and coherent then, despite the texts in printed guides to the production. 

Translation: Tomáš Valníček