In retrospect, it’s one of those things that should have been obvious. When every member of the cast has a bio of films with names you can’t pronounce, it’s a good bet that the production won’t be in English. And I was right, there was someone who got naked on stage before the eve was done. He was even cute. But of course I’d sat on the side of the stage with the yelly guy. Oh well, next time =p
In the Solitude of Cotton Fields is self-described as “Styled like an Eastern European punk concert”. The music, the band Natural Born Chillers (99% sure not the same NBC that has an single of Rock The Funky Beat) plays live behind the actors for 90% of the show, was good. Moving somewhere between rock n’ roll and industrial techno, it was loud and effective in setting the moods as it changed paces through the night.
As I mentioned, there were two actors with ‘speaking’ parts. Lucky for me they had one of those overhead libertto display screens, with an english translation. I put quotes around speaking because one of the guys did a lot of yelling and crying, alongside some amazing expressions. The other guy did more dancing, and got naked. When that time came, it was a slow, piece by piece removal, with careful folding and stacking of each garment as it was removed, dimly lit from above, so strong on the shadows. He doesn’t stay naked long, just enough to underscore the sense of vulnerability and surrender (I’m guessing). When it comes time for him to re-dress, it’s done more in the dark, with our attention drawn back to the other actor by the spotlight.
I enjoyed the show, overall. The yelly guy…had I realized, I would have sat on the other side of the stage, or brought ear plugs? I would have hated to miss his facial expressions; he puts a lot of effort into them all, they both did. So much of the show had a sort of stereotypical artsy-ness to it. Edgy in a predictable way. They have a portion of the show that’s more video presentation. The actors face away from the audience and a large screen on the back wall takes over for 10-15 minutes. It occurs to me now, all the words that appeared on that screen were already in English, was that done for this show, or would they have been in english during a performance in Poland?