Twelve hours.
The representation of the Demons Peter Stein lasts exactly one day, twelve hours acting intense, complicated plot and unpronounceable Russian names.
A theatrical marathon to reduce it into words, wind and air the seven hundred pages of Dostoevsky's masterpiece j .
Despite the rosy predictions do not, the show went well: the audience appreciated and managed to resist all the time sitting on the uncomfortable seats of the stadium, largely helped by the frequent coffee breaks and lunch - even at the end of the show , seemed genuinely moved, try the long minutes of applause and a standing ovation release.
A bit 'fashion, a bit ' the event, a little 'esteem for the inhuman effort that must have cost the actors to memorize thousands of lines of' work, a bit ' the genius of Dostoevsky, a little 'eating practically free - they are all possible answers, but are not sufficient to explain the flow and the success of the work of Stein.
Twelve hours of cogitation ol'inesistenza high on the existence of God, the legitimacy of suicide ol'illegittimità ;
twelve hours of overtime on the deepest abyss of monologues' human experience and the "demons" that infect the nihilism and drag him to a crazy thought and self-destructive;
twelve hours masterly reconstruction of the reasons - philosophical policies of the Russian crisis of the late nineteenth century, and bitter (for prophetic) satire on the pseudo-socialist societies - Russia's Revolutionary provincial
twelve hours of the purest tragedy dramas of social and individual, demons note: all ingredients for the most hair-raising, and completely unable to compete with the sublime pleasure of a day at sea.
Imagine then if the agony lasts a full day of sunshine.
I felt the need to think about other causes, to investigate a bit 'deeper into the reasons for the success of the show on 26 June and the enthusiasm of the public.
As often happens to me, I found in the ancient tradition that continues to flow in our blood, and that we are unable to leave.
reasons rooted in the Greek theater days when, during the dramatic events we spend a great deal to the theater to go see the hundreds of characters ed'intrecci tragic scene, a commitment which was intended to improve the public since the purified (catharsis).
This case is similar.
The fundamental difference lies in the duration .
A performance of two or three hours occupies a small part, although culturally important, in our lives. We have the opportunity to decide our free time, and we can use those sacred Oretta to our spiritual growth.
The pleasure of going to the theater! how nice our subscription! let us see how nice the other in the foyer, and tell their friends, with that so neat and just, "Tonight there are going at the theater! "
Finite two or three hours, you return home, try to remember some important or funny joke and row to bed satisfied. End of spiritual growth.
choose to sacrifice a whole day to a show, so that, for once at least, is the show to be life and not vice versa, change all of a sudden the tables.
participation is really active, both for the viewer to be an actor: you can not help but follow, or risk losing complete a full day, and for obvious artistic reasons, there can be no thrill of the character played.
The intimacy between actor and audience grows every minute until it touches heights unthinkable (and unexpected) in a show called "normal": the effort is shared by both sides, s 'Learn to recognize the salient features of each character, his vocal timbre, his tics, his gestures, and with them the care that the actor has spent to create his alter-ego.
is formed slowly among the spectators that sort of student spirit that exists during the trips, or during long journeys, which excites the minds and stimulate the attention and the personification of "the public-one with men on the scene.
We learn to know your neighbor who laughs and jolts as well as learn to know the character I play.
Increased awareness and commitment from the public, caused simply by the increased duration of the show: This is the main reason for the success of Stein.
The famous
fourth wall, the metaphysical distance separating actor and audience, performance and life, was finally demolished by the scene of Stein.
is not found Pirandello's stage, it is instead a far more radical sharing in size, or time.
From a purely physical point of view is the time that is shared by actor and spectator is not the time of the condensate "normal theater, where in three hours" real "years are compressed" theater "( I am reminded of Brecht): here the time of the public coincide the scene in time.
This is enough to engage the public in an original and complete.
This is testified by the almost unanimous bumps during the duel between Starovgin and Gaganov, masterfully rendered by German, the laughter provoked by the collective culture and provincial windbag Stepan Trofimovich, the grimaces of horror painted on every face, wrinkled or not, the arguments of ill Kirillov.
Stein has managed to revive a work of art: The paper was released from prison, writes Bernhard, and has delivered to the public in its context, which is essential to understand it. As he himself confessed that these are not new to marathons, no matter what it takes to stage a book like demons, we must give it the time it takes.
only way the work now is far from our time, takes on new meaning , and seems to speak directly to the terrorism of our day, we hear of that self-destructive demon hovering in the air before the crisis, the nihilism of youth, of the evil that seems absolute, but in reality it is not and never has its raison d'etre choices and in the history of the individual.
only way the theater regains its true historical function , too often forgotten in the foyer and velvet chairs: getting the message to the widest possible audience; educate, purify, democratize.
