THE EIGHTH DAY
Directed by: Pavel Štourač
Texts on the original motifs: Kateřina Šobáňová, Zuzana Smolová, Pavel Štourač and Continuo
Scenography: Helena Štouračová, Michal Puhač Music: Alessandro La Rocca
Cast: Kateřina Šobáňová, Zuzana Smolová, Mariana Tucci, Martin Janda, Michal Puhač, Alessandro La Rocca
Light-design: Christoph Siegenthaler, Production: ART Prometheus
Performance combining puppet and physical theatre; languages: English, Italian, Spanish, Czech; duration: 65 min.
The puppet performance The Eighth Day is inspired by the oldest written reference of the human history – fragments of myths, stories and poetry from ancient Near East. The texts of the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Hittites, the Ugarits or the Israelis refer not only to the beginnings of the human civilisation but also to the rudiments of the human race, society as well as individual regardless of the period, cultural differences and historical background.
The performance, which is based on the dramatization of the original mythological themes, combines the elements of physical and puppet theatre accompanied by live music. It consists of three stories about the ambiguity of human existence. about our desire to overcome our human fate, and about our constant succumb to philistinism, envy, fear and hatred.
THE EIGHTH DAY – PRESSBOOK
The experimental Continuo Theatre has returned to puppets after seven years.
The Eighth Day directed by the artistic director of Continuo Theatre Pavel Štourač consists of three tragic stories of ancient literature whose archetypal characters correspond to puppets very well.
The rawness of the stories matches the final shape of the performance. Continuo Theatre is able to make a really impressive stage setting with very humble means and The Eighth Day is not an exception. The darkened stage is empty and besides several plain carved mannequins and some marionettes, the actors use only wooden boards, small logs andblocks and a few handfuls of sawdust. The rest of the stage design is provided by actors´ well-developed bodies dressed in loose black trousers and brilliant light design by Christoph Siegenthaler. He uses spot lights to show detailed work with puppets or actors´ dance acts which give us a feeling of old rituals.
The audience is kept in suspense by the sophisticated script. Three stories are told parallel in short sections and they are “put together” only at the end of the performance when three shattering blows affect all three heroes on the fatal eighth day.
As usual the performers (Kateřina Šobáňová, Zuzana Smolová, Mariana Tucci, Martin Janda, Alessandro La Rocca and Michal Puhač) are perfectly synchronized. They are energetic and play both puppet acts and physically demanding ones with one hundred per cent effort. They also provide their own live oriental-themed music using string and percussion instruments. The sound and music components of the performance correspond naturally with the language. It is understandable that foreign members of Continuo speak English and their parts are not translated into Czech and the audience do not mind using both Czech and English in the performance at all.
Continuo Theatre play these ancient, but still relevant, stirring stories of human pride and fall without any pomposity or technical crutches. They fully rely on the magic effect of puppets combined with dynamic acting and the strong gripping plot. The Eighth Day is definitely worth seeing and I would recommend it not only to the lovers of puppet theatre. Overall, the return to puppets is an undeniable success.
Kateřina Lešková-Dolenská
Loutkář (Puppeteer), 2/2014