This production formed part of doctoral research on Central European Absurdist Theatre, and was made up of two short plays by Polish playwright, Mroczek, whose work was written and first staged during communism. Performed by the same 3 actors, the two plays center on similar themes.
Charlie (Karol in the original Polish) centres around what happens when the rules of civility and logic are abandoned. Structurally, it is rather similar to Ionesco’s The Lesson, but with the politics of his Rhinoceros. The promotional material indicated that it was prescient in the face of what’s happening in the US today, and in the post-show Q&A the team spoke about how this linked with the ICE shootings in Minnesota. I am not sure that the parallels felt particularly deeply thought; indeed, branches of American authority have been shooting people nonsensically in the street for decades. Additionally, there was no clear link to Americans — although I appreciate the sentiment of the link.
Striptease is slightly different in tone; two men who appear identical are thrust into a space without knowing how they got there, where a disembodied hand dictates their actions and behaviours. Their collective fear of one another, and of the hand, along with their disagreement on how to handle the situation and who to trust, was palpable.
Of the two, Striptease was the stronger piece, as it played more in nuance of the performance. For my taste, Charlie chose loud over heightened, with a bit more shouting than needed to demonstrate fear rather than create it.
I believe the experiment is around tools to bring absurdist theatre to the stage, to support actors….I’m curious to know the results.