The new production of Anna Polívková made in coproduction with VerTeDance – The doctor Touret’s cases – celebrated its premiere on the 10th and 11th November 2009 in the Ponec Theater. Mr. Touret together with his guests – the strange individuals – was entertaining the audience with tragicomic stories for about an hour and a half.
The doctor Touret’s cases piece provides the audience with playfulness and a very lite feeling. Anna Polívková fell back on an approved and simple topic and did not strain the spectators with any depressive thoughts and tragic endings. Doctor Touret (Tomáš Měcháček), the guide of the whole piece, a respectable man with various neurosis and jerks, coaches the story and wittily develops the contact with the audience – the interaction which he talks about is evident.
The dance can solve many things! However, some people are afraid to give free play to their spontaneity, they are afraid to fly, they are afraid to dance. Mr. Touret minds every personage in the play and challenges them to overcome themselves. Every personage has its specific problem, they hide their desire within themselves and they are afraid to fulfill this desire.
The blind twins swinging in a certain rhythm count out the prime numbers and they are really enjoying themselves, as well as the audience. The ballet dancer (Veronika Kotlíková-Knytlová) watching the Dying Swan finds after a while a bit of courage within herself, jerks off the hood, straightens up and starts to dance. She tries to stand on her tiptoes and to reach the goal, but it’s really a difficult task with only one ballet shoe. The most self-confident personage of this play is surely the miss with a boa (again Veronika Kotlíková-Knytlová) who always turns up in the least convenient situation, because she takes the wind out of sails of those who step by step are finding the courage. And then Mr. Padlý (Anna Polívková) comes as we already know him from the previous performance of Anna Polívková, and he is again charismatic and sweet man who finally manages to fly after getting a kiss from the miss with the boa. Once in a while a person in black appears on a stage and moves properties, sweeps, walks about while saying “I am not here” and is greeted by a hell lot of laughter from the audience.
The most powerful and funny moment came right at the close when Tereza Ondrová comes alias Mrs. Vltavská. Her passion for Smetana’s piece Vltava has revealed absolutely everything. Because Mrs. Vltavská is not as boring and squeamish as she seems to be at first sight, but she can have a hell of a lot of fun. At first, there are convulsions in her face and on the tips of her fingers, she is softly rocking while she grips the LP’s and the scores of Má vlast in her hands, but then she gets so loose that she starts to dance wildly in the space and is jumping until the complete exhaustion….then the real happiness shows up.
The performance (except for Smetana’s Vltava) is accompanied by Jakub Xavier Baro who is using various instruments and plays a very attractive rhythm. The official part ends, the interpreters get flowers and the audience applauses. But the performance has not end yet. A young producer of Česká televize (Anna Polívková) appears on the stage and tries to alert the audience that they have to leave the auditorium, because the stage needs to be prepared for another program. The musician charms the young lady with certain instruments though, and she forgets her business and they start to sing. Not only the young producer, but also the well-known miss with the boa. The open end of the performance changes it into a party, the music keeps on going and the audience starts to dance as well.
Anna Polívková did not place only the audience into a strange position, but also the duo VerTeDance. It was very interesting to observe other expressive instruments of these two dancers. They were put more into lines and they stood the proof. One did not have to regret the lack of dance of these two ladies in this piece, because it was replaced by wit and the civil movement which was handled quite interestingly. Doctor Touret’s cases performance expands the complex of possible expressions in the dance and movement world and brings light and witty point of view which is very pleasant, and not only for the audience.
This is finally the piece which allows the spectators to leave the theater loose with joy and happiness.
Written after the performance on 11 November 2009.
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