Les Corbeaux, Josef Nadj and Akosh Szelevenyi
Les Corbeaux (The Crows), Josef Nadj and Akosh Szelevényi, Lindbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House 24th Jan 2011
London International Mime Festival is taking over many of the capital’s theatre venues this week, but I have to admit that despite all my seeded interests in other areas of theatre and contemporary performance, I am still a bit of a philistine when it comes to mime. My only live experience of the ancient and esteemed form is through a two hour workshop at a drama week taught in a seminary in rural Ireland when I was around thirteen years old. Needless to say, the prelude to Les Corbeaux, which was first performed in Switzerland in 2010, smashed my preconceptions of mime as a dainty and rather meek mode, and similarly, despite my previous concerns, the contemporary black box within the Royal Opera House provides the perfect arena to display this craft; the Opera House itself home to a type of performance which like mime, and like Nadj and others in his field, has both reacted to and informed its own contemporary performance zeitgeist. For me, sixty minutes is almost the ideal performance time; time Nadj uses to so cleverly choreograph sixty minutes of work which draws us in and leaves us mesmerised. From the first fine pillar of warm light bathing his saxophone, Szelevényi takes us carefully by the hand and lead us into the narrative of Les Corbeaux. The performance is beautifully choreographed both with regard to Nadj’s movement, but also in structure; the time frame used extremely economically to take us on a journey of transformation.
Nadj and Szelevényi make attempts to form a strong performance relationship, but only at the moments when these long time collaborators reach this intuitive and crucial step is reached, Nadj and Szelevényi’s audience are treated to warm and delightful feats. The use of pigment and ink is innovative, diegetic with the musically powerful metallic tubes.
Toward the end of the piece Nadj finally submerges himself in ink. Perhaps we were a hard audience, but there were only one or two stifled giggles, and even those broke what felt like a rather tense atmosphere. It is a piece I feel could have been laden with a lot more humour throughout. Rémi Nicolas’s simple and minimalist style of lighting brings delicacy. But although the theatrical elements of the piece are strong, Nadj’s narrative does not do justice to the emblematic nature of the crow; at times it feels like we are only at the precipice of potential.
Les Corbeaux , 24 January 7.45pm London International Mime Festival continues in venues across London until 30th January.
words: Alice Malseed
