The third "Berlin Theater Festival in China" was launched in Beijing as scheduled. The Berlin Theatre Festival has always presented the avant-garde theatrical works that are worthy of attention in the world in terms of both thematic themes and stage art, and this year's theatre festival brought Tomro Lao's "Five Chapters of Ease" to Chinese audiences, and met with Beijing audiences at the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center on July 7-8. The play, which swept the European Theatre Awards, attracted much attention both in the context of the work of art and the social issues of life, and for the first time in history, the Belgian Theatre Critics Association awarded the annual special prize to the Belgian theatre workers outside the international community.
"Five Chapters of Ease" is based on the vicious news incident of child abuse by Belgian criminal Mark Duters, and after the seemingly cruel and "inappropriate for children" event was put on the stage, the main actor was a group of young actors of the same age as the news event, and the Beijing News reporter interviewed "Berlin Theater Festival" judge Heelyn Soitla, the drama consultant Geroen Vestilla, and Dr. Currie, director of the German Cultural Center in Beijing, who brought "Five Chapters of Ease" to China. Reveal the reasons for the use of young actors in the play and the attitude that it hopes to convey to the public through the play.
Background of the work
Sensational "child abuse" vicious cases in Belgium
As a Belgian, the festival judge Heileen Soitlavara was a witness to the real event, when she was only 16 years old when the incident occurred in Belgium, and when the case was solved, the police found the bodies of many of the children he murdered in the backyard of the suspect Mark Duters' home, he dug a cellar underground, abused these children, and even starved them to death.
Sheerene Soitrawala remembers that she also took part in the march, when hundreds of Ghent citizens took to the streets to protest the government's dereliction of duty, to protest the crimes of Mark Duterte, and the case of missing children in those years was related to this case, which was a very sensational event in Belgium at the time. For Herene Soitravara herself: "Five Chapters of Ease is not only a good theatrical work, but it is also intelligent and allows the audience to experience a very convincing viewing experience. ”
Attitude of the work
Reflect human nature, reflect children's bravery and resistance
Five Chapters of Ease is actually an experiment in five scenes that narrates historical fragments. The actors and assistant directors rehearsed the documentary on the events, based on material from the "Duters case"—interviews with the convict's father, interviews with the victims, police reports, and an unsent letter from the kidnapped girl to her parents. In five very simple exercise clips, the director succeeded in creating on stage the image of a self-aware child who knows how to resist evil.
In "Five Chapters of Ease", director Miro Lauder's drama bears the social responsibility of reflecting the refraction of human nature in reality, and the seemingly out-of-tune integration, including the use of young and child actors to interpret the issue of conveying the "untimely" social reality, makes the drama conflict surging and more likely to cause widespread excitement and social discussion among viewers.
The young actors of "Easy Five" sneak into different character settings: a police officer, Mark Duters' father, a victim, the victim's parents, politician... They rehearse with adult actors, reenact the case, and gradually embrace their roles and destinies. This work reveals the absurdity and ugliness of the adult world through the eyes of a child, criticizing not only the heinous criminal himself, but also the indifferent parents and the incompetent police. The larger social context is the exploration of the relationship between Belgium and its colony Congo, the relationship between rulers and national heroes fighting for freedom, the relationship between African immigrants and Europeans, the relationship between groups and individuals, the relationship between adults and children ... Many major problems are only mentioned in one sentence, but they are fiercely stabbed into the depths of the adult's heart. During these 100 minutes, the audience is carried by the young actors, crouching down, looking at the adult world and examining themselves through the eyes of children. At the same time, the play reflects the children's spirit of resistance, reflects their hatred of criminals, and shows their inner bravery, resistance and courage.
Shirin Soitravara felt that "for our theatre festival judges, the children of The Five Chapters of Ease reflect the event through their own performances, reflect their inner world by participating in theatrical performances. I think the creation is very convincing, the way of expression is very direct, very impressive. ”
Introduced to China
Look forward to the Chinese audience's insights on the event
Dr. Ke Li, dean of the Goethe-Institut of the German Cultural Center in Beijing, who participated in bringing "Five Chapters of Ease" to China, when talking about the feeling of seeing the play for the first time, he confessed that "I was very touched when I saw this work in Germany, this kind of touch is not a simple touch, it makes you cry, reflect at the same time, feel that your heart and brain are warm at the same time." Such a highly topical subject matter requires children to participate in the performance of the highly contradictory, the play itself is a rigorous way to reflect on the moral problems of the event itself, these children through the performance of self-confidence to resist evil, and successfully on the stage, in the art of its reproduction. At least in my opinion, "Five Chapters of Ease" is the best work I've seen in recent years. ”
As for why this year's "Berlin Theater Festival in China" chose the work "Five Chapters of Ease" to come to China, Xilin Soitravara felt that "drama must have a certain attitude and express contemporary life." After watching "Five Chapters of Ease", the audience will feel that it is not just to reflect historical events, but to see what the drama can do through the form of expression. I especially wanted to know how Chinese audiences reacted to the work and what they thought about children's participation in the performance through "Five Chapters of Ease". ”
For the theater creators in European society, especially in the German-speaking region, they have been exploring these theatrical works that tell their own history with realistic themes, and what kind of repercussions and resonances can they have if they are staged in China? When performing "Stumbling Blocks to the National Theatre" at the Karlsruhe Baden State Theatre in Beijing last year, it was clear to Geralne Vestilla, theatre consultant at the Berlin Theatre Festival, that Chinese audiences have their own way of interpreting this piece of German history, and they also think about how to deal with and face their country's history through theatrical works. Therefore, he has similar expectations for "Five Chapters of Ease", and he hopes that through such works, everyone can know how to overcome psychological trauma, how to deal with the very sad stories and major historical events in their own country, and how people should deal with it.
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The "Easy Five Chapters" tour in China will not only usher in the 100th performance of the play, but also the first batch of young actors to end the tour, for this group of children to the age limit to withdraw from the stage, "Easy Five Chapters" will continue to be staged in the future, Geralne Westira said" "In fact, there is no special need to worry, "Easy Five Chapters" has been divided into ab two groups of actors in the performance, B group has always been as a reserve force, in group A performance at the same time the theater is also synchronously cultivating their comprehensive performance ability." When the young actors in Group A reached the age limit and withdrew from the stage, the children took their place to continue to star in the play. ”