SNOWball

„Když začalo představení v češtině, v mém jazyce, byla jsem velmi potěšena, říkala jsem si, že tím pádem budu dobře rozumět a všechno pochopím. Až na to, že vůbec. Kombinace prostoru kosmu, počítačové hry a facebookových smajlíků mi začaly dávat smysl asi po deseti minutách. A pak zase přestaly. Mám to! Nemám. Možná nemusím rozumět všemu. Možná jsou věci, které chápat nebudu, i kdybych se na hlavu stavěla. A tak jsem přistupovala i k představení, na které jsem se dívala. Příběhy a témata linoucí se na pozadí jednotlivých scén přinášely meditativní zamyšlení nad současnými tématy, jako může být samotné hraní počítačových her, hledání pravé lásky online či jak moc naši náturu ovlivní peníze. Moderní a zároveň trochu zastaralé (kdo dnes ještě používá Facebook???) představení plynoucí na velmi příjemné vlně, které dává možnost zamýšlet se nad aktuálními tématy, a nebo se jenom nechat unášet proudem jednotlivých obrazů.“

Marie Klára Vonzino

„Snowball is a play about a dystopia where the world is spinning around the video game. The faces of authorities invented this game, where three different people are playing. Scenography and music made the audiovisual attraction, which was introduced to the audience as if we were also playing the game. The story had a few fragments that were not necessarily needed, they sometimes caused confusion – the audience could not recognise if something what actors said they said personally or as characters. Snowball is showing us that reality could easily get switched for internet life, which is something we should be careful of and try to live outside the online world. The movements of the actors were carefully chosen and dialogue was there, but it didn’t take the lead, which was executed well in terms of the online world where movements and emoticons are the main thing. The game changer in the game was different – it was a chance to relive in the game or choose another path which you can’t do in the real world. The authorities who invented the game were also trapped in their own game, consuming at the end what could consume you, and that is at the end the message for the youth who are addicted to their online lives.“

Jana Milivojević

„Do we already live in a world in which we are dependent on technology? Yes. Could we image a world in which we won’t be able to tell apart the virtual world and reality? The show Snowball tried to portray this as a warning, especially for young generations, to learn to maybe reduce some of our screen time. For me, the biggest attribute of this play was its stage design. Inspired by games such as Minecraft and social media platforms like Facebook, the mix of décor elements and projections introduced the public to a different world, as though not only the characters were living in the game, but also us. Without having too much text, the show was more based on the music, inspired by the familiar sounds popular games use, which completed perfectly the sensorial experience. The narrative was fragmented, showing different episodes of the same people, but at times it was a bit confusing and it shifted from the main message of the show. Snowball, as the name suggests, is a result of our obsessive behaviour towards the virtual world and a warning to younger generations: a continuous, growing multitude of fake news, fears and uncertainty.„

Andrea Bichir

„Spojenie hercov plzenského Divadla Alfa a poľského režiséra Jaceka Malinowského nebolo úplným spojením. V diskusii po predstavení sa potvrdil náš dojem, že formalistický prístup režiséra sa nestretol s hereckou túžbou po obsahu. Priepasť bola aj medzi samotnou témou a tvorivým tímom. Prostredie online počítačových hier bolo na míle vzdialené generácii tvorcov. A ich predstava o tom, ako toto prostredie funguje, zase na svetelné roky vzdialené tomu, ako to prostredie poznajú mladí diváci v publiku. Výsledkom toho bola, žiaľ, aj priepasť medzi javiskom a hľadiskom.„

Kristián Kozmenko

AMATÉRI

„It doesn’t happen very often at a theatre festival to be invited to a party instead of a theatre. And not a usual party, but the one placed in the future, on the rooftop, with three very strange people, who are not able to express their emotions anymore. The performance Amateurs provides us with a theatrical experience that may not be very common: the dancing, physical performance. The story follows three young adults, who, in a world controlled by Artificial Intelligence, have trouble with creating and maintaining human connections. I found it interesting to watch how the actors changed their way of performing from a mechanic, forced, almost robotic kind of interaction to actually showing feelings and transform into more human-like creatures. Even the lighting was designed in such a way that it changed from cold, at-the-party moments, to warm and bright when the characters were talking about their problems, setting the right atmosphere for the public. I believe that this show was a lot about finding your true self and dealing with emotions you did not know you could have.

After a performance like this, one cannot help but wonder “Will we all lose our humanity if the technology takes over?”

Andrea Bichir

„Happening in the far future, party on the 125th floor of the Prior Hotel, we are introduced to three people who are living their lives with the help of AI. To them, human world is something that existed way before them, stuff they didn’t have to deal with, with the problems which are not theirs. Amateurs, a play about a girl who can’t sleep, a boy whose girlfriend does not want to be touched, and a boy who wants to write a book and find out what is hidden in his relationship with his girlfriend, was full of dancing, lights, changing spaces and feelings. With the audience who could walk through the hall to get closer to the actors, it looked like we all were part of the party, but unlike us, the actors showed mechanical moves, stared into the audience with so much concentration and control, making a difference between humans and people who are living by AI. In the first part of the show, you could see good organisation in the hall, with lighting which was changing colours trying to show us a different atmosphere. The girl who was singing and playing music was the only one who knew them – their stories, ways of thinking and she was the one who was controlling them, bearing in mind that her costume looked like robotic. In the second part of the show, the stage was different, the actors made a circle with chairs around it, they did that fast and the choreography was well executed. By inviting the audience to sit around the blue circle where they were dancing which looked like swimming, they invited them into their world, trying to touch them and to show that they are not so scared of them as they were in the beginning, when they were using chairs to sit, run and dance on them whenever they were unsure. In the end, even though their lives were controlled by the AI, they showed that they are human beings and that humanity can beat AI – the girl finally could fall asleep, the boy and his girlfriend finally got through the stage of physical touch and the other boy left his girlfriend.„

Jana Milivojević

„Divadlo Petra Mankoveckého čerpá z dlhoročnej tvorivej spolupráce jadra divadla. A na ich tvorbe to jasne vidno. Všetky zložky inscenácie Amatéri sa vzájomne dopĺňali, vychádzali zo seba a navzájom sa dotvárali – zvolená téma, text, réžia, herecký prístup, priestor, hudba… Inscenácia okrem fundamentálnych otázok zmyslu ľudskej existencie (nie len v budúcnosti) skúmala aj zásadné otázky zmyslu existencie divadla (nie len v budúcnosti).Vzťah herca a materiálu jeho práce, vzťah k mizanscéne ako prostriedku práce režiséra, povaha účasti inscenačného tímu počas predstavenia či samotný vzťah herca a diváka ako esencia divadelnej umeleckej formy. DPM je aj z týchto dôvodov dôležitou súčasťou slovenskej divadelnej scény a potenciálne aj všetkých ďalších medzinárodných festivalov, ktorých sa zúčastnia.„

Kristián Kozmenko

O NIČ NEJDE

„„It’s not a big deal“ is a play with a lot of improvisation about activism and why it should be good that teenagers have a bigger role in the world and responsibility. Although the activism was the main topic, it stayed unclear what kind of activism is this about. Using social networks so the audience could decide which actor would play which activist was unexpected, but it didn’t have a role in the whole play. The fact that we were shown activism in various areas such as climate change, wars, lgbtq+ community, was confusing and quickly transferred, so the irony the play wanted to show was not executed well, and the ending stayed unclear.“

Jana Milivojević

Autorom fotografi predstavenia Amatéri je Filip Cepka.