A scene from "Anhelli. The Calling", the last part of a theatrical triptych "Gospels of Childhood", photo by Irena Lipińska / Teatr ZAR
ZAR Theatre from Wrocław presents its performance "Anhelii. The Calling" with two shows in Spain this October; the first in the ruins of the 18th century San Augustin monastery in Belchite and the second, in Madrid's Teatro de La Abadia
From my first moment here, I recognised the chords of the past brought to a standstill in the ruins of the Old Town. A giant stone chord. In our work we see each person as a sound, a vibration being a part of the collective harmony. Our performance is an attempt to write the sounds we bring with us, to bring the sounds we are into the Belchite chords of silence, says Jarosław Fret, founder of the ZAR Theatre and director of the famed Grotowski Insitute in Wrocław.
Six thousand people were killed in Belchite during the Spanish Civil War. The largest Jesuit church in Belchite, Convento San Augustin where the performance takes place, has never been restored, just like the rest of the Old Town district. The Polish performance is the first-ever cultural event to be staged in the ruins of the Belchite Old Town.
It is the best theatre stage we could dream of, Jarosław Fret observes. We don't go from one theatre building to another with our performances, but search for new places, ones that don’t necessarily have the plush and the curtain.
The ZAR Theatre is an international group of artists, apprentices of Wrocław's Jerzy Grotowski Institute. The ensemble was formed as a result of the group's participation in the cyclical journeys to Georgia in the years 1999-2003, where musical material was collected including the polyphonic chants dating to the beginning of our era. The name of the theatre – ZAR – originated from the title of the funeral chants performed by Svans, the people inhabiting the Northwestern Georgia.
"Anhelli. The Calling", the last part of a theatrical triptych "Gospels of Childhood", is the ensemble’s homage to the great romanticist of Polish literature, Juliusz Słowacki. It combines the motif of the poet's journey from Naples to the Holy Land, via Alexandria, Cairo and Damascus, ajourney through the Siberian hell and is based on a mixture of ancient musical traditions – Byzantine, Sardinian, Georgian and Russian ones.
The performance takes place in Belchite, Spain on the 21st and 22nd of October and in Madrid's Teatro de la Abadia from the 27th-30th of October 2011.
"Anhelli. The Calling", project leader: Jarosław Fret, light direction: Bartosz Radziszewski, the cast: Matej Matejka, Ditte Berkeley/Kamila Klamut, Nini Julia Bang, Emma Bonnici, Przemysław Błaszczak, Alessandro Curti, Jean François Favreau, Jarosław Fret, Aleksandra Kotecka, Ewa Pasikowska, Tomasz Wierzbowski
The ZAR Theatre
27 Main Square-Town Council
Wrocław
ph.+48 71 3445320
fax. .+48 71 3434267
www.teatrzar.art.pl,zar@teatrzar.art.pl
Source: www.gazeta.pl, www.wprost.pl, www.e-teatr.pl