Together they were thrown into a situation of some kind of feast in honour of a mysterious and inconsistent woman – Marie Kinsky. We witnessed breathless expectations during their familiarizing with strange and new environment and its present invitees. Silent respect was in the air, almost becoming fear of demonic and despotic hostess / mistress Kinsky who was gradually adding to an unexpected drift and progression of the atmosphere.
The performance was a mosaic of constrasting situations bordered with a long feast table, balancing between seriousness, comedy and even absurdity. From touching intermezzo filled with singing arias from Dvorak´s Rusalka, to dynamic dance accompanied by a drum, from comical dance sequence by Petra Púčiková to her unexpected death and even more unexpected awakening by the sound of mobile phone...
The appearance and expressions of the interprets only added to the contrast, not only by their different costumes and speech, but also by a major height difference that provided many funny moments. But it were merely tiny details that moved the piece to a level of greater significance – spectacular feast was held on a table cloth with holes, simple potatoes in their jackets were served, their number not meeting with the number of the guests and the head of the worshipped hostess was decorated by a paper crown. What comes to our minds is the impression of forced hypocrisy and artificial honour of the guests, fearing the powerful mistress whose character becomes almost half-mad in this view. Marie Kinsky was excellent in this role, her charisma cut deep into the marrow of the spectators´ bones.
Review from the premiere on 20th November 2008.
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species