“Paisatges Compartits (Shared Landscapes)”, A Pleasant Day of Theatrical Land Art

The meeting point is in l’Animal a l’esquena, Malpelo dance company rehearsals site. Celrá forest and crops that surrounds the place will become the stages of the pieces included in Paisatges compartits (Shared Landscapes). A show of seven plays programmed by Temporada Alta festival in its opening weekend that Caroline Barneaud and Stefan Kaegi, better known as Rimini Protokoll, have conceived to answer next questions: what if theatres brought people together outside of cities?, what if art did not imitate “nature” but allow us to experience it? and what could be the theatre’s ephemeral answer to the LandArt of visual arts?

Theatergoers that want to see the answers have had to get up early in the morning, the performance begins at 12 am, and to drive or to take the Temporada Alta bus to reach the place. When they arrive, volunteers provide them with blankets, portable stools and picnics and split up them in small groups lead by different show guides.

Once equipped, the guide led them to the woods, asked them to lie down and stare at the treetops and sky, meanwhile they listened. And what did the spectators hear? A mesmerizing conversation written by Stefan Kaegi that reminds dialogues of the play Black Animal Sadness by Anja Hilling. The cast is not present. People only hear their voices and the noises they make walking around the wood thanks to headphones.

This former play offers time to relax before the choreography by Chiara Bersani and Marco D’Agostin. It takes ten minutes’ walk to reach the place. It is a room encircled by high bushes. A space where a performer dances upon an armchair in front of a backcloth painted as if it was a scenery painted by Caspar David Fiedrich, the well-known German Romantic artist. It is an inclusive play because the performer is a disabled person talking about her desire of being an astronaut and how difficult is for her to be appointed for at the same time she dances smoothly. It is a moving performance that make viewers think all of them are disabled because it is difficult for any to get the same job.

By contrast, empathizing with the next piece is more difficult because is a musical composition by Ari Benjamin Meyers that a local horn sextet plays. The concert hall is an olive grove, and the performers lie on the ground as a grey lump almost hidden by dry grass. It is not the only musical piece by this composer included in the show. However, this one is the most shocking because it is the first in the show.

The most spectacular piece comes after the concert. It is a virtual flight created by Begüm Erciyas and Daniel Kötter. Their target is to make people think about how social and political contexts change the perception of the territories. An idea that came to one of them living on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a limit that moves according to the geopolitical interests of both countries for managing a big gold mine that is in the frontier. A relationship that is not clear in the piece, because the flight is over the woods of Celrá and no conflict is there between regions.

Next piece is the clearest and the funniest. It is a participative and collaborative choreography created by Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz in which the spectators become a dance company. They follow the instructions that artists gave them through headphones. So, they move on to the stage. Furthermore, the choreographers include comments that let individuals think about the role that they play in the group individually and as a part of a community.

After a short and quick intermission to rest and to have lunch, and a brief concert based on the mating tweet of extinct birds, Émilie Rousset invite people to see a theatrical mockumentary. The audience face a large field that becomes the stage where a direct translator woman talks with an activist, a farmer, and a scientist who studies the language of birds. Meanwhile, different points of view and data slide about environment, farming and livestock.

After this pleasant theatre piece and before the ending, El Conde de Torrefiel includes a creepy one. A monologue starred by a character named Nature who warns to human beings about the risks of harming her. She remains the audience that she has already overcome other hecatombs, such as dinosaurs extinction, and she is still here. She talks in a distorted voice that fits perfectly with the electroacoustic music soundtrack and the neon sign used to show words and phrases she says.

After six plays the day came to an end. It does with a concert of the horn sextet that performs the last Ari Benjamin Meyers’ piece included in the show. Behind them, the sun set as in Far West films.

At the end people look tired and do not clap very much. They could recognize the effort made by the artists and the organizations involved. Therefore, little can be drawn about the show. In addition, a question raised during the whole day: What does nature or countryside add to the plays that have seen? Probably nothing. At least, nothing new for the usual audiences of these theater companies. Neither in the content, nor in the ways of performing.

Nevertheless, it is hype that could grab the attention of media and new audiences. Besides, it could be a matter of study in drama schools or university theater departments. In the end, the best part of the event is to be outdoors during a warm day and to meet people in a relaxing atmosphere.