Photos from the performance
"Solstice" - a Revival of Ritual and Mystery
As part of the Johannesburg Arts Alive Festival, ARCHA Theatre from Prague in the Czech Republic presented their show, 'Solstice', for four performances. It is pure performance theatre which implies that no dialogue is used.
Instead of text there is a working plan according to which the presentation's structure and development are planned. Found objects, puppets, lighting, music and, in this case, also water and fire are used by the two actor/manipulators, Petr Nikl and Jana Svobodova. Apart from visual elements, sound also plays an equally important role. As an organic part of 'Solstice' it is this aspect which stimulates the viewer's imagination to the utmost.
The company's two musicians, also from Czech Republic, are Vojtech and Irena Havel. He plays the cello, conjuring up phenomenal sound effects like the cry of gulls while she enriches the atmosphere with piano and delicate percussion, using especially bells.
All of this may sound a bit technical, and even clinical to the reader but it is the interaction and magical realism that fills one with wonderment. You have to ask, how do they do that?
With reflections and water, objects projected onto a white cloth using the old Chinese principle of shadow imaging, and the imaginative skills of the manipulators, start the flight of fantasy which fluctuates between playful and almost grotesque. Although a hint of the ancient power struggle between fire and water can be detected, with 'Solstice' it is ultimately up to the viewer's imagination to complete the story. The audience will each connect the abstractions in an unique way creating a whole that will have meaning to the individual.
There is also the realisation that Nikl and Svobodova make use of 'a network of small improvisations and interactions', as stated in the program, to communicate directly to the audience. As the almost 90 minute piece progresses, technical secrets are revealed to the audience. We see that the stage on which the miniature objects appear is in actual fact a low billiard-like type table with a sunken mirror covered by a few centimetres of water. It is though the original and imaginative way in which the young ARCHA Theatre's players sometimes use and combine the age old principles that astonishes the viewer.
'Solstice' is an unusual, even unforgettable theatre experience which recreates the strong elements of ancient theatre forms - ritual and mystery. If this production does not enchant you it will only mean one thing - that your imagination is totally numb, a tragic state which only you can alter.
Paul Boekkooi, Beeld, Johannesburg, 26. 9. 1997