Review: TWITCHING AND OTHER GAMES at Wroclaw Mime Theatre

I don't even know where to start and what element was the best, the idea, the script, directing, acting or lovely madness evaporating from the show... It all made a mix perfect difference and intel smoothness.

As a society we are all more aware of mental disorders. Instead of chaining the sick and watching them in cages like at the Zoo and watch them on Sunday afternoons we treat them with understanding and humility. The approach of this show is a step forward. Dominika Knapik (director, choreography) and Patrycja Kowanska (screenplay and dramaturgy) created a highly valued show. We all can imagine a group therapy, people sitting in the circle and confiding on their traumas, most often uncovered in this process. Well, here we have literary characters from works of Chekhov. They all struggle and we can see that there is something wrong with every single of them. It's so diverse that at some point we realize that every action in human life can be a sign of disorder. That's the core of the show, what else?

The actors speak, which is unusual for pantomime theater, and because of that every word is like a drop full of sweetness. They seem to cherish the sound of their voices, not forgetting the enormous potential of their bodies. They are like a smooth dough that makes our fingers satiny when kneaded. An amazing pleasure. The best strawberry cake I've had was made by a baker, not a pastry chef, because he treated the ingredients with unprecedented respect and innovation. It's the same here. I cannot recall a show with such a great respect for words.

If I had to describe the content in one word I would say: deconstruction. Not only of Chekhov's characters but also of art in general, painting (the scene with patients drawing is purely brilliant and incredibly funny), music and human's body. We are witnessing a sharp recycling of art.

The cast is simply amazing, they are all part of one game, the modes in the machine accelerating each other, the Chekhov's people, Mateusz Kowalski, Anna Nabialkowska, Izabela Czesniewicz, Artur Borkowski, Mateusz Flis, Agnieszka Dziewa, Monika Rostecka, Sandra Kromer-Gorzelewska, Agnieszka Charkot, Eloy Moreno Gallego and therapists, Paulina Jozwin and Jan Kochanowski. They are all brilliant as they get a lot of juice out of their characters.

We get to see them through their emotions not just in action in the books and try to characterize them based on who they are, shifting tons of coal of their own disturbances (I love this expression). Therapists, somewhat at random, offer new methods of taking charge of the disorders, we see questionable results, although sometimes funny, but what else to do?

The piece have a lot of layers that I loved. It's about how easy is to become crazy. Because it really is. On the other hand, the distance and the sense of humor, the deconstruction and the actors' movements are simply unbelievable. Astonishing.

The cheery on the pie for me are three sisters. You would not imagine how synchronized and good they are, it's a perfection (my personal favorite is Agnieszka Dziewa).

To summarize: go, see, enjoy it will all your senses. There is also high probability that after this show you would get an anthology of Chekhov's works as I did.

Photo: Natalia Knapik

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