V zrcadle / In the Mirror (programme from the performance)
Archa Delivers a New Stream of Theatre - World Theatre (MF Dnes)

Photos from the performance





V zrcadle / In the Mirror


Reflections of Storybook Pictures
A visual and musical pop-up book from the ground where Czech and South African artists meet.

Concept and scenography: Petr Nikl
Realised by: Petr Nikl and Jana Svobodová
Music: Vojtěch and Irena Havel, songs and rhythms of Africa
Performing: Agatha Madinane, Petr Nikl, Jana Svobodová, Eva Hromníková, Innocent Mandla Xhosa, Karel Váňa, Victor Thabiso Mohapi, Madoda Manana and the musical ensemble of Vojtěch and Irena Havel
Lighting Design: Viktor Zborník
Special lighting effects: Petr Lorenc
Sound Design: David Vrbík
Production: Don Nixon (Prague), Ira Bekker (Johannesburg)
Programme text: Ondřej Hrab

Premiere performances - April 27, 28, 29, and 30 1998.


Johannesburg
It is September. Spring has just begun. We stand in front of an abandoned warehouse in the centre of the city. Someone should bring the keys to the place where we will begin to rehearse our performance. We are already a day and a half late in rehearsing. No one seems to be upset. We are in Africa. Slowly, we open our boxes and unpack the contents. For the first time in their lives, our dark-skinned friends have a marionette in their hands. The head of a fox can be found on the body of Český Honza (a typical Czech puppet character). It doesn't seem strange to anyone because no one knows what our Český Honza actually looks like.
          There are four different nationalities amongst the eight participants of the workshop: Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and Tsonga. Every one of them speak at least five different languages.
          At last, we can begin to rehearse. The space is completely filled with energy. Dance, songs, rhythm. The instructions most often given are: "Don't move!", "Slowly!" or "Quietly!". From the medley which includes songs sung in Zulu, speeches in Xhosa, dancing marionettes, masks and objects, the performance gradually takes shape. Enthusiasm and discipline, unknown to those experienced in Czech theatre, bring their own results.

Alexandra Township
We travel to the location where the first performance will be played. A huge city made up of small earthen or aluminum shacks. The streets are filled with people and automobiles. Goats wander in front of the Cultural Centre where we will perform. Inside, a funeral takes place - we must wait before we begin, If we could only start with the preparations! All the promises we were given were made in vain. Nothing is as we expected. The Havels don't have microphones and have to play acoustically. Someone has announced the beginning of our performance earlier than we agreed. There is a stampede of children to our performance space, nearly crushing Jana. Once we start the performance, they quietly concentrate. Absurd plays without stories fill them with wonderment.

Soweto
In the beginning of the nineties the name "Soweto" was present in every journalist's report from South Africa. Rough demonstrations, burning tires, fights with the police, stone throwing, shooting. Villages with a population of one million! Before our performance, Zulu dancers are dancing their wild dance outside the theatre. This time, we play indoors. It is almost like a real theatre - we have microphones and two reflectors. The performance ends. We pack for the last time. Outside, the sun sets to the sound of passionate choruses coming from an unfinished church.

Prague
April. It is Spring again. A group of five of the South African artists arrive in Prague. The promise that we made in Soweto during our farewell is fulfilled! It isn't possible to leave the results of our collaborative work inert. Still, how do we find a common ground for such different cultures?
Petr Nikl has transformed the auditorium of the Archa Theatre into a fairy tale world. It is a space for poetry to be created using sounds and images. African rhythms blend with meditative melodies. People and objects dance together. What is fantasy and what is reality? Pictures and reflections have the leading roles in the performance, thus the title "In the Mirror". Our performance is an exploration into a world in which we can meet each other.

In collaboration with the Embassy of the South African Republic in Prague, Radio 1, Radio Limonádový Joe, Radio Rokko, With special thanks to NOMAD Oriental Carpets, located in the Lucerna Passage, for the assistance of the African drums.





Archa Delivers a New Stream of Theatre - World Theatre

Archa's new performance of In the Mirror (Reflections of story book pictures) is linked to previous projects which were created by such guests as Peter Schumann, Min Tanaka, The Residents and the Dutch group, Dogtroep. These productions were created especially for the Archa Theatre space - in collaboration with Czech artists - and were inspired by several factors, such as the genius of the theatre space, the city of Prague, the particular era and some famous literary works. The project, In the Mirror, began last year in Africa, when Petr Nikl, together with a group of Czech artists, were guests during a festival in Johannesburg. Four of their African colleagues recently came to Prague, and after one month, created a "visual musical leporelo (pop-up book)".
          Nikl, dressed as a jester, always influences the action in the background. He presents this performance together with seven actors from Prague and Africa - some are actors, others musicians, singers, dancers, and puppeteers. Also participating are two musicians, Irena and Vojtěch Havel, who are watchers of this world both "in front" and "behind the mirror". Several strange, animated machines and mysterious creatures are brought to life, silence sounds from the primeval forest. It seems as though we have just entered into the centre of Nikl's picture, where artistic objects emerge from the dark. These objects seem like technical wonders - they blink, and they turn themselves on and off. They absorb light. They control, setting off or absorbing the light, they move toward, and even swallow up actors and other objects. Gradually each of them become a human person after they arise from their animal base. All objects are controlled by actors, or rather some of the objects are themselves actors. The staging is something between a "white" stylised acting with difficult costumes and "black", spontaneous dance including songs and wild rhythms of the South African performers.
          The premiere was an unusual illustration of the actual trend of the world theatre in which we could see a combination of tradition and habits with the latest artistic trends and technologies. The similar trends in music are called world music, that's why we can call this project the "world theatre" and the Archa Theatre is one of its prophets.

Vladimír Hulec, MF Dnes, 24.9.1998