Dance performance-physical theatre “ODYSSEY” / Teatr Nowszy (Poland)

Choreography: Tomasz Ciesielski in close cooperation with the dancers
Dance: Natalia 'Sarna' Kladziwa, Kuba Pewiński, Paweł Urbanowicz
Music: Sean Palmer, Kuba Pałys
Costumes: Damian Kretschmer
Production: Teatr Nowszy fondas, Joanna Stasina
Supported by: Institute of Music and Dance and University of Łódź
Premiere: 2020

Duration: approx, 60 min.
Location: @Klaipėda bus station (Butkų Juzės str. 9)
The audience is invited to bring their own headphones with minijack

www.teatrnowszy.pl

The world seems to be wide open. Yet less and less often we set out on a journey, which is not only an adventure, but also a path of inner transformation. We can fly to the end of the world or even get a tour on Mount Everest, but that doesn't mean we are crossing any personal boundaries. We only experience the illusion of a rite of passage, which we gladly reinforce with epic coverage on social media. The COVID-19 pandemic only showed that the essence of the journey is not the road traveled. Thus, we invite audience to the place where the journey begins or ends. At the railway or bus station – between train arrivals and departures – we experience the journey together at its various moments: just before the journey, in the moment of doubt and in the process of maturing to the first step – ritual death to a new life.

The Odyssey project is not only a reference to the theme of Odysseus' journey from Homer. It is also an artistic path from mythological chaos to Kubrick's poetry of the cosmos. A look into a world that has "gone out of shape", arousing in Hamlet the need to repair it. Each participant will receive a headset, which will be a gateway to the intimate world created by the performers and inaccessible to random passers-by. Through the language of contemporary theater and dance, we will investigate the extent to which the archetype of homo viator - man on the move is valid for contemporary man.

*** Critics corner

„Audience choreography, the movement of automatic doors and animations on advertising billboards, gestures of the station security staff who guard the throughput of communication routes - everything was intertwined into a multi-component, not entirely predictable spectacle.” Hanna Raszewska – Kursa

“End station. Ithaca? There is no Ithaca. There are empty platforms. And we watch them as the next trains leave to nowhere. More Kubrick than Homer... Quo Vadis world?” Joanna Stanisz

 

Photo: from the company archyve