This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
My Name is King is a comment on human frailty focusing on the evil and temptation linked to power. It has dancing, speaking, a fabulous set made from gathered clutter, an all male dancing cast and a twenty strong band of well rehearsed children.
The children, touchingly frail in their delivery, seemed to be experiencing the feeling of safety in numbres and a palpable urge to please by carrying out their given roles with great concentration. They were the most wonderful inclusion to the work. They accentuated the polarity between innocence and dark forces of power. They stood in the light behind the dark space where big strong men in recycled clothes threw themselves about in angst and inner turmoil as they fought wih each other.
At first sight it could all look very descriptive if there wasn’t a credible idealism of DEJA DONNE, presenting artistically convincing state in evidence on stage.
Wenn es einen Roberto Benigni des Tanz-Theaters gaebe, so heisse er Simone Sandroni. Wie Benigni, der Filmemacher, versteht es der italienische Choreograf in seinen arbeiten, die er gemeinsam mit seiner Partnerin Lenka Flory aus Tschechien konzipiert, Tragik und Humor, brutale, handgreifliche Gewalt und filigrane Zartheit, leidenschaftliche Liebe und abstossende Aggressivitaet, grandiosen Irrwitz und echten Witz in einen mitreissenden und aufruehrenden Reigen zu verwandeln, in dem sich Lachen und Weinen staendig begegnen und ineinander verkehren. Und wie Benigni haelt Sandroni mal satirisch ueberspitzt , mal ganz konkret der Gesellschaft den Spiegel vor.
Zum erstenmal hat DEJA DONNE auf Taenzer verzichtet. Die Darsteller sind zwei Schauspieler (Pietro Micci, Andrea Bartola) und ein Jongleur (Etienne Borel), die laut Lenka Flory fuer jede Aktion und Bewegung eine Begruendung brauchten. Anstrengend sie das gewesen. Aber es hat sich gelohnt. Fast unmerklich ist dabei so etwas wie die Umkehrung der Dramatik Samuel Becketts entstanden. Hat jener am Rand des Verstummens ein Stueck Der Namenlose betitelt, laesst DEJA DONNE einen Anonymen „My Name is King“ rufen, und parallel dazu schwingen von einem Turm aus vielen entsorgten Fernsehgeraeten bekannte Politiker und Meinungsfuehrer unterschiedlichster Couleur Reden – ohne Ton.
“Surprisingly, the choreographer was not working with dancers, but with two actors and one juggler. He achieved to create a dance performance of such an actual level, that it can be probably counted among his best choreographies ever. During an incredibly inventive and innovative waves of dance the interpreters are getting introduced, and KING, assertive type, whose theatre background is soon getting payed on interest, is slowly squeezing his way to authority . The purely male cast is a precise hit…“
“The choreographers and directors Simone Sandroni and Lenka Flory invite their audience’s feelings to dance, using non dancers but two actors and one juggler. Maybe this is why the emotions on stage come across so sensible“
Sandroni writes on his one hour long piece that they want to show “a comment on the fragility on the common people”, to show the people as “martyr, hero or victim”. It works impressively. The piece digs itself with sharp and loud and at the same time quiet and wistful tunes into the audience’s minds.
