Cherry-Brandy
Piece by Josef Nadj for 13 performers
Creation for the Anton Chekhov Theatre International Festival
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Théâtre d'Orléans - France
October 14th, 15th and 16th, 2010
Théâtre de la Ville, Paris - France
October from 26th to 31st, 2010
“With this new creation, Josef Nadj once again confronts the vast interconnected plexus of questioning which has nourished his entire œuvre from Comedia Tempio to Sho-bo-gen-zo. The question here is time and its nature, or more specifically, the manner time interacts with memory and tradition, determining our relationship with our origins. This time, Nadj has found material in the writings of Anton Chekhov, in his short stories and short plays, to nourish reflection and test his intuition.
The literary argument – and also without doubt the genesis – of Chekhov’s Chant du cygne (Calchas) [1886-1897] suggested a framework, an opening situation. The central character of this “dramatic study in one act” is an old actor named Svetlovidov (which means “the one who sees clearly”), who finds himself alone in the middle of the night in a somewhat seedy theatre. That evening, after a performance of Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène, in which he played the divine Calchas, there had been a celebration for his forty-five years in the profession. His mind clouded by fatigue and alcohol, Svetlovidov reconsiders his personal and professional life, while allowing fragments of roles he had played to pass through his thoughts. The stage appears to him as “a black pit, bottomless, like a tomb”, “a place for invoking spirits”, where the border between illusion and reality blurs, becoming ever more tenuous and indecisive.
In a deserted theatre given over to darkness and delivered to personal demons, the “black box” – the bare stage – constitutes for the actor or the dancer a sort of primitive space, empty and yet simultaneously charged with memory, allowing one to go back in time, summoning flickering visions from the past. And beyond individual experience and personal history, to renew the ties with the origins of one’s art. This postulate and its implementation are at the heart of Josef Nadj’s new work. »
Myriam Blœdé, translated into English by David Vaughn
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Les Corbeaux
Performance by Josef Nadj
Music by Akosh S.
Dates : October 8th and 9th, 2010
Place : festival "Espace de la mise en scène", Perm - Russia
With Les Corbeaux, Josef Nadj and Akosh Szelevényi, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, continue their conversation, turning once again to the Nature of their natal region. As the title suggests, this performance piece is nourished by the patient meticulous scrutiny and observation of crows, in particular the fleeting instant when they touch ground, when the transition between flight and walk transpires. A third partner is invited to join this dance-music dialogue, expressing itself, "reacting freely", giving voice to its silence : a black painting, liquid sheen, that across the thread of the musical and choreographic gestures, leaves its trace, bearing witness or capturing footprints of the passage of crows. And so, by way of the danced movement Nadj abandons himself to, movement which progressively engages his hand, face arm and then his entire body over the course of this improvisation - the state Nadj seeks to achieve is preparation for the pictorial gesture. His "becoming bird" merges with his "becoming a brush".
Myriam Bloedé
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Centre Chorégraphique National d'Orléans
37 rue du Bourdon Blanc
BP 42348
45023 Orléans cedex 1 - France
Phone :
+33(0)2 38 62 41 00
Fax :
+33(0)2 38 77 08 55
E-mail :
infos@josefnadj.com
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