Beauty and sorrow in the city

By Joanna WoŸniczko (Gazeta Wyborcza, 23/09/05)

‘Joy and sorrow are international languages’, says Simon Mol, director of the play ‘Standstill Moment’, which was staged yesterday in Victoria hotel. Africans, Asians and Europeans took part in it.

‘Oh God all’s cool— cool girls, cool guys’, says the impulsive Angolan actor to the public; the performance of Standstill Moment by the group Migrator Theatre begins.

There is a total cultural hotchpotch on the stage. At one time tender violin music resounds- played by the Belarusian, Lena who takes on the role of an Angel. Right after that a tall Ingush plays some Caucasian rhythms on the guitar. Arabic belly dance masterly performed by (fancy!) Teresa, a Pole, excites admiration. In the scene of a fight a Vietnamese, Nam, takes central role, (he is a world tai-chi laureate). And, of course, drums from Africa. This continent has the most numerous representatives among the crew, with actors from Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, Togo, Cameroon and Angola. ‘Our spectacle is a kind of psychological therapy for the actors as well as for the audience,’ Simon Mol, author and director of the play.

The play Standstill Moment came into being on the basis of a poem. ‘I wrote it at about 1:00p.m. after returning from one of the Warsaw clubs. People of different cultures were having a good time there. Suddenly a fight broke out; fierce, bloody’, relates Simon—therefore his spectacle has the subtitle Beauty and bestiality in the city and the final scene is the mourning of a mother for her murdered son.

The rehearsals lasted a month but the actors admit that it was too short. They worked every day on the week before the premiere. Nevertheless as they said laughingly they didn’t know until the very end whether any mishap wouldn’t happen.

How did such a heterogeneous group manage to form a good team? — ‘Joy and sorrow are international languages’, explains Simon Mol. However, during the rehearsals the multiculturalism was a nuisance, e.g. the Africans who have a different sense of time from the Europeans usually arrived late. This often called for additional rehearsals. ‘I have the impression that the actors from outside Europe are usually honest and open, but they treat the play as a kind of mystery’, says Lena (Belarus), I didn’t expect that we would act this spectacle so passionately. I was moved most of all by the final scene. The girl acting as a mother was wailing so mournfully that I got scared. I couldn’t believe that anybody could strike from themselves such strong emotions at hand’.

But she adds right away that she herself as an Angel was also thrilled— ‘In Belarus we say: when someone dies, the entire sky cries.

Comments

[ndzié samba beatrice regine]

hi brother si i wrote but u never answered u saw my mails but u never cared to reply but u'r poem is not bad but keep up u'r sis ter from cameroon(mbalmayo) if u resieve just write to me ok? bye.

[Etonde Juliette Nalionge]

Inguenuity never dies, an artist need not be hidden for u know one by just seeing what motivates him. People go to clubs to have fun and whatever reasons they have but you my brother turned a mere club scene to a superb piece of theatre. More grease to u for you are really a man of the people.