"La Strada" 2010
The city as social fabric, as a creative and recreational space, is hardly touched upon as a theme in everyday life. This is a matter for art - and for 13 years now has been a major area of intrest for La Strada.
(Comments © by "LaStrada, Graz")
"faces & places"
studio percussion graz - (at)
Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba: to name only four countries from where the 11 musicians come. They need to redefine their artistic position in Austria, the country of music. How does society influence their artistic development, how do we perceive their work?
"Faces & Places" - under art director Günter Meinhart - takes on the task of trying to pursue four life stories.
A stage show is developed from biographical documentaries, its sound and image sculptures ultimately expressed in a dance festival.
"figures libres"
komplexkapharnaüm - (fr)
Is history only to be found amongst stories? KompleXKapharnaüM, already well-known here for their complex investigations of urban circumstances, portray greater history in relation to people´s "little" life stories through "Figures Libres". The course of their argument runs from Volksgarten and describes the whole city - along with the highs and lows of the human condition in pictures, sounds, objects and quotations. Thus, an account of Graz and the world.
"torpedo swing"
dynamogéne - (fr)
The grand masters of slapstick have a new magic trunk amongst their luggage: it looks like grandpa made it in his shed and beckons you to embark on a journey of discovery in the wonderland of mechanical archaeology. An explosive sensation starts to tick when these two cranky men fire up their torpedo swing. What´s more, it conceals a terrible secret too: its inventor has got involved with the devil and discovered a satanic rhythm: it´s called rock´n´roll and is still in control of the machine. Top-class street theatre for fans of utter craziness.
"s´nullerl oder a ganze welt für sich"
culturcentrum wolkenstein - (at)
Carl Morrés´ piece is more than 100 years old, yet people are still keen to play it. Even though its fundamental theme - care for servants in old age in the era before social security and pensions - is no longer a cause for concern. Or is it, somehow? In this cautious yet naughty adaptation by Steinbauer/Dobrowsky and the Theatergruppe Stainach, the comedy is powerfully revitalised and confronts the present with a not so distant past. Popular theatre at its purest? Too right guv!
"chez leandre"
leandre - (es)
Everyone has found themselves on the threshold of uncertainty at least once in their lives. But what if your whole life floats on that threshold? Leandre, acknowledged favourite of Graz audiences, turns up with nothing more than a door in his luggage this time. He needs it to step over thresholds, and to reflect on homeland and property, withdrawal and attention. Street theatre that uses theatrical poetry and clown-like introspection to depict both important matters and little mishaps.
"comeback"
los2play - (es)
In the circus, time does not stand still. On the contrary: the performers celebrating their comeback here have completely changed their image for the first time in decades, returning to the stage mature but refreshed and with new energy. Four acrobats from the glorious days of yore take the stage again in order to show the world their inimitable skills. But hang on: were there perhaps only three? Whatever, they´re certainly as thick as thieves anyway. And, with a great deal of mischief, energy and unbelievable artistry, they demonstrate how hard it can be sometimes to stay hip and cool.
"pantin, c´est l´heure"
compagnie lug - (fr)
Sometimes it just needs a dreamer to make the world lively. One just like this shy, clumsy clown who would so like to be a worldfamous dancer. And whose yearning draws him to a place where a dozen characters have a burning desire to tell their stories. The grandiose mask and pantomime artist Jean-Michel Debarbat breathes life into women, men, inhabitants of all possible ages, and merges their stories into a striking collage, poetic, stirring, radically personified. A fantastic performance.
"die alte und das biest"
theater meschugge - (fr/de)
If you will play in the street, you´ll find playmates in the strangest places. Ilka Schönbein, for instance, has pulled a little donkey out of the water who has escaped from a fairytale. Now she´s trying to teach him how to play the lute. And wasn´t that Death, who has suddenly developed an unprompted and rather unpleasant familiarity with the artist: the donkey could have ended up alone on the stage, playing solo. Schönbein mixes up puppetry, theatre and dance into a strange magical meditation on life and death. Poetic, performed with breathtaking artistry.
"glisssssssssendo"
ulik & le snob - (fr)
Street performance on a new course - well concealed here to yield a hightech show. The choreographic instrument of this fantastic street performance animates nine artists as though controlled by a ghostly hand. Like beings from another star, they glide over the asphalt. And make music, the like of which you never heard before: Philip Glass and Michael Nyman Dixieland-style! Crazy sound! Blending to yield a consummate humanistic-mechanistic-musical work of art devoid of precedent and altogether fascinating. You have to be there.
"heaven in sight"
theatre fragile - (de)
The old man parts the human sea. We know this character from Ernest Hemingway´s famous novel - yet we never experienced this story quite like this. Theatre Fragile takes this allegory of man´s perpetual conflict with nature and his personal fate and adds colour to yield a dazzling parable about life and aging. A swordfish on stilts, a rolling boat and film projected onto the walls of buildings to yield an ocean where once was city, all express aspects of life: courage and dignity, future and past. And the possibility of encounter and friendship through all phases of, and changes within, a lifetime.
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