Pass: Open Pass

Asylum by Rami Be’er

In his work ‘Asylum’, Be’er examines concepts such as identity, foreignness, oppression, freedom, belonging, homeland, longing, and home. According to him, these concepts are ones that are relevant to every human being from an existential view, wherever he or she may happen to be situated in place and time. The quest for a place that is identified as a home is part of the human existential experience.

Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (KCDC), one of the leading dance companies in the world, is identified with the work of Artistic Director Rami Be’er whose exclusive and unique choreographic character has become the company’s trademark both in Israel and abroad. With its technically strong and physically eclectic cast of dancers and its dynamic sensibility, KCDC characterizes Israeli dance at its best and performs regularly in the most respected theatres and at leading festivals worldwide.

A Universal Story

Following the research about objects as a narrative element, the authors of this show tried to dramatize universal history from their own perspective, creating an audiovisual journey through some of the events that constitute the development of humanity. A unique class of history, a brief and unfinished story, through object manipulation, choreographic actions and shadows projection.

Cinderella

“This performance is a free interpretation of the well-known fairy tale by the Charles Perrault created by composer I. Rogalev, script-writer and producer A. Maximychev and actors T. Melnikova and E. Ageeva (laureate of the premium “Golden Mask”). The story is a resurrection of the old spirit of home theatre. Performed as a humorous pantomime, children and adults are delighted by the lovely scenery, cheerful music, expressive marionettes made of the wood by means of traditional techniques and the masterly peppering skill of the actress who adroitly handles 21 marionettes. “Cinderella” won two national “Golden Mask” awards in Moscow.

A Man From Podolsk

A young man in his thirties, a resident of Podolsk near Moscow is detained and interrogated. The reason for detention is unclear – sober, accurate, he was able to present his documents and his identity was verified. But officers at the police station are determined to carry on with a very emotional interrogation, threaten to plant drugs in the man’s pocket or make him a suspect in decades-old cold cases. A typical situation from crime reports and detective stories… Yet, one should never underestimate an all mighty police force.

Questions raised by the officers are completely inconsistent with the protocol and the laws of human logic. This performance is specifically targeting those of us who are constantly unhappy and complaining about something – a damp climate, boring work, an indifferent husband or wife, or a dull life in general. Perhaps, they should once visit a police station where the “Man from Podolsk” happened to be.

Medea

What motivated Jean Anouilh to turn to the tragedy by Euripides? On one hand – our time, when the impending threat of social fall is destroying the personality, the culture, the politics, on the other hand – an attempt to stay in denial craving for entertainment, show and feckless gaiety. The fact that society has no intention to examine its medical history scares, as xenophobia, racism and violence raise their heads. Against the backdrop of the disastrous fall of morality, cynicism, striving for wealth and the increasing power of money the man is gradually destructing. Only the strongest ones will manage to be unlike the others, to defend one’s independence and not to adjoin the stream of the philosophy of wealth, to reject the tempting postulate of “I am like all the others” and to realize that the faceless ruck is ruinous. Anouilh’s “Medea” descended from the Euripides’s buskin and became closer to us, the vocabulary of the play is modern. Dialogues of the heroes corkscrew from past to present and back to the past. The creators of the show tried to distinguish the meaning of the flows of words and actions.

Eugene Onegin

Rimas Tuminas in his production of “Eugene Onegin” does not aim at a full scenic adaptation of A.S. Pushkin’s novel in verse. For his main theme, he chooses a story of Tatyana’s love for Onegin, a story with prologue and epilogue. The performance unfolds in the memory and imagination of A.S.Pushkin’s characters. We are transferred from Onegin’s room into his country estate, then into the Larin’s house nearby, then to Moscow – and finally back to his room. The scale of events constantly changes: from noisy celebrations to secluded contemplation, from crowd scenes to lonely recollections, all of which are drawn together from the past just like the fragments of Tatyana’s love letter, framed and hung on the wall next to Onegin’s arm-chair.