| Theatre Cinema: Song of the Goat Theatre |
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Wed 11 March 2015, 19:00 Cinema Room Admission free Chronicles: A Lamentation Screening of a performance by Song of the Goat Theatre In Polish and English Directed by Grzegorz Bral; cast Rafa³ Habel, Marcin Rudy, Christopher Sivertsen, Anna Zubrzycki, Anna Krotoska, Maria Sendow, Ian Morgan; text by Robert Stiller, translator and author of the Polish adaptation of Gilgamesh; costumes by Cristina Gonzales; set design by Grzegorz Bral and Rafa³ Habel; music arranged by the ensemble from the traditional polyphonic songs and laments of Albania; premiered on 24 November 2001; produced by Song of the Goat Theatre, Poland, 2006; 36 minutes Chronicles: A Lamentation is the culmination of two years of research into music on the edge between life and death: lamentation. The company found in northern Epiros (the region straddling Greece and Albania, once the cradle of Ancient Greek drama) a rich musical tradition of lamentations and polyphonic singing. This music has a traditional division of voices: the one who weaves, the one who cuts, the one who gives or takes, and the drone. The performance is built around this division of voices, both on the level of singing as well as its dramatic structure. The protagonist in each episode “acts out” the poetry, weaving it from the singing and music. The divisions of the voices can be seen to correspond to the dramatic function of each actor-singer. For example the “weaver” and “taker” can correspond to the protagonist and antagonist. These songs are like the warp on a loom, on which the narration and “pattern” of the story emerges. The performance centres around the ancient Sumerian epic inscribed on stone tablets over 5000 years ago, fragments of which have been unearthed and make up the story of Gilgamesh the king – part man, part god. He and his wild companion Enkidu set out to do battle with the Great Goddess, and, when Enkidu dies, Gigamesh’s tragedy begins as he starts searching for immortal life. This negation of death, the ultimate finality in human life, the futility of escape and the deep understanding which accompanies its acceptance, is the axis around which Chronicles: A Lamentation develops.  The event is co-organized by the National Audiovisual Institute.   Held as part of Theatre Cinema’s series of screenings called “Theatre Out of the Spirit of Music” |