What will be left following the collapse of civilization as a result of the climate crisis? A multidisciplinary show, “Fabula Rasa” tries to answer this crucial question with video, words, music and silences. To be seen at the Théâtre de l’Orangerie, in Geneva, until July 10.
The beginning of the play “Fabula Rasa” begins with the end of the world. Bartek Sozanski, the director of the show that opens the summer theatrical season at the Orangerie in Geneva, seizes three poetic models to tell the story of the apocalypse.
A relevant theme following two years of pandemic watching thermometers yoyo. On the stage adorned with a screen, Giulia Crescenzi and Valérie Liengme, two actresses, converse regarding the world in ruins. They are accompanied on stage by videographer Erika Imler.
The director of the Théâtre de l’Orangerie, Andrea Novicov, proposed to the Polish director with multiple hats to create this show. At the same time actor, director, director and puppeteer, Bartek Sozanski is very interested in the theater of objects.
Filmed global warming
How do humans apprehend a climatic situation that has definitely degenerated? Once the glaciers have been swallowed up, the fauna and flora have been devastated by storms and floods, what remains? Recordings filmed from a smartphone? Yes, but not only.
The show “Fabula Rasa” is a multidisciplinary fable that tries to answer this crucial question with video, words, music and silences.
“Fabula Rasa”, directed by Bartek Sozanski. [Théâtre de l’Orangerie]
Large-scale rocks and tree bark
When Bartek Sozanski discovers the work of his artist friend and actor Antonio Buil, he decides to use it for his show. These are prototypes built from stones, mushrooms, pieces of earth and tree bark. These little things, gleaned here and there by the visual artist, come from his travels in nature. Gathered on three models, they offer a poetic and earthy miniature scenography.
Erika Imler, the project’s videographer, films it live to create a powerful visual universe. Projected on a screen, this shot allows the public to witness the representation of a nature abused by humans. The video designer notes that “being in contact with the actresses, creating a collective story with images, music, acting, is like a dance”.
A writing set to tell the apocalypse
In a collective writing headed by the French-speaking Swiss author Arthur Brügger, the two actresses on the set, Giulia Crescenzi and Valérie Liengme, navigate between manipulation of objects, dialogue and silences. This back and forth allows us to tell a fable of resilience live. The fiction? Two women from the “end of the world generation” who reassure themselves, who feel guilty and who try to tell their life following the collapse of civilization. A theatrical act that pushes the imagination and reflection…
Layla Shlonsky/mh
“Fabula Rasa”, Théâtre de l’Orangerie, Geneva, until July 10, 2022.
