Interpretive theater a refreshing act for Beijing
- By Wu Jin
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China.org.cn, September 27, 2011
For some, the kitchen – equipped with ordinary wares such as cupboards, a wash basin, the door – provides a space for plenty of activities such as cooking, eating, drinking and socializing.
But for three men in "Bambi 8", the landscapes constitute their entire world, in which they embark on a bizarre odyssey in order to escape from it.
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Bambie 8 [courtesy of Bambie Theater] |
The unusual tragicomedy, alive with vivid, delusion-inducing performances, is accompanied by Russian musician Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphony and monologues in mostly German, and sometimes a bit of Chinese and English. The show aims to entertain the audience with a sense of black humor that is grounded in Europe, said Paul van der Laan, both a creator and a performer for the show. "I'm very curious to see how Chinese people will respond to the theater from Holland."
Although having a different cultural background and grasping little of the language, the Chinese audience still gave the show a warm reception, cheering and clapping feverously at the end of the show on Sept. 24. It was the second performance for the trope during its stay at the 2011 Beijing Fringe Festival.
"It's quite different from other shows I saw before. I think [the show’s] physical performances are extraordinary. That's what the Chinese performances lack. Besides, [the creators'] imaginations are splendid," said Liu Fei, a teacher from a dancing school.
"Bambie" is the name of the Dutch theater company, founded in 1995 by Laan and Jochem Stavenuiter when they studied at Amsterdam Theater School. "We were young and innocent at the time just like the deer Bambi from Walt Disney," said Stavenuiter. Blandly assigning a number to each of its shows by the order they were created, the company's shows themselves are instead much more spirited, each hosting a different performance structure and featuring a unique theme.
Laan and Stavenuiter seldom employed playwrights, but instead created the stories themselves, sometimes inviting guest performers who they collaborated with in the creative process. Laan said the actors have a lot of expressive freedom during rehearsals, and a director – who is referred to as the "coach" – gave them directions at the last moments to string the performances together into a show. This process during the rigorous rehearsals helped the live performance, replete with abrupt outbursts and dramatic emotional shifts, seem spontaneous.
In the last four years, the Netherlands' government financed Bambie in a program to promote domestic arts. However, Laan said the government recently cut the program's budget in half, which may push many Dutch artists, including the painters, stage directors and actors, to the brink of unemployment.
Perhaps as a coincident, "Bambie 8" deals with such themes as the rebellion against harsh reality. Laan said the show tries to stress the importance of imagination and the passion for life, although in the end, neither can easily be detached from reality.
Laan said he hoped there could be more cultural exchanges between China and the Netherlands and thought there are many similarities between the Dutch physical theaters and Peking Operas or Tai Chi.
"Bambie 8" had been put on stage in Iran and Egypt before it attracted the attention of the Chinese organizers who traveled aboard in search of candidates for the Fringe Festival.
Corey Cooper contributed to the story
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