Silence
SILENCE, Teatr Biuro Podróży
Sat 27th Aug - Mon 29th Aug 2017, Market Place, Newbury
Hundreds of people gathered to watch this night time performance by Teatr Biuro Podróży, combining physical theatre with fire, unusual staging and puppetry to tell the story of refugees and migrants caught up in a spiral of war, fences and dreams of escape.
In this harrowing, night time show, Teatr Biuro Podróży's powerful, poetic visual imagery and menacing action portrayed a group of displaced people enduring constant threats, humiliations and incursions.
People hung in twisted positions from the wreckage of a bus. Mannequins of children were brought out of the bus and tended to by the adults.
Spinning cartwheels of fire came dangerously close to the audience and intimidating soldiers on motorbikes drove around the people, threatening them. A death-like figure stood by a bus with a giant slogan behind him, and strode through the street ringing a bell.
In amongst the threat and menace there were brief moments of resilience and survival, a sense of a group of people making life go on where ever and however they could.
With a soundtrack of plaintive cello and metallic riffs, this experimental company created a dystopian vision and picture of human fragility in the face of adversity.
Silence
Founded in 1988, and based in Poland, Teatr Biuro Podrózy are one of the world’s leading outdoor companies, known for their production Carmen Funebre, which explored similar themes.
Co-commissioned by Greenwich & Docklands international Festival, Freedom Festival and Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Supported by City of Poznan and the Foyle Foundation. In association with MSL Projects
