The legend of world shadow theatre, Fabrizio Montecchi, writes about us:
At the international shadow theatre festival “Karakulit” in Pécs (Hungary), I had the opportunity to attend the performance Bound by Grass by Divadlo Líšeň from Brno (Czech Republic).
It is not my place to judge the performances of others, and therefore the following text is not a “review” but rather a simple sequence of thoughts born from what I saw.
It is difficult to form a clear picture of the current state of shadow theatre, an artistic discipline subject to constant technical and linguistic evolution. In many parts of the world it lacks genuine cultural roots, which makes it a fragile and unstable theatrical form whose existence is always under threat. Companies that use shadow theatre arise and disappear, and with them vanish the results and traces of their work and experiments.
It was therefore a great and wonderful surprise for me to discover the work of Divadlo Líšeň. I appreciated not only their technical skill, but also, and above all, their personal vision of shadow theatre. In their work I found much of what I consider to be the fundamental building blocks of shadow theatre, yet developed in new, contemporary forms. These elements—of which I will mention only three key ones—were employed by Divadlo Líšeň with competence and dramaturgical coherence.
The first element: the stage space. As soon as I entered the room, I noticed the set: a large screen of material reminiscent of leather, supported by a wooden structure. The whole suggested that the action would take place not only behind, but also in front of the screen. And so it was: indeed, the shadow play unfolded largely “in full view,” with continuous counterpoints of shadows “out of sight.” This ongoing dialogue between the space in front of and behind the screen was not gratuitous but in harmony with the way the images were created—through the use of three-dimensional puppets and objects, functioning both independently and as shadow figures.
The second element: manipulation techniques. The performance employed a variety of techniques in combination: from opaque to transparent silhouettes, from real three-dimensional objects (a basket) to artifacts, also three-dimensional, created specifically for the performance (the puppets of the main characters). This compositional freedom, used with dramaturgical precision, is a sign of great expressive vitality, since it avoids reliance solely on codified traditional methods and opens shadow theatre to the complexity of reality, of which shadow itself is a part. In shadow theatre, potentially everything can be used.
The third element: the use of light. What has been said above would not be possible without the thoughtful use of different light sources. Not only were various types of light employed (fixed and moving, warm and cool, etc.), each with its technical, expressive, and communicative potential, but light itself became a language. A light that switches on is a light that calls attention; it is a world that opens up to the spectator. The creators of the play are keenly aware of this and soberly employ different lights according to their dramatic needs.
Finally, I would also like to mention the balance between narration and dialogue, between the presence of actors and objects, puppets and shadows. Overall, Bound by Grass left me with the impression of its creators’ profound awareness of the scenic and dramaturgical possibilities of contemporary shadow theatre.
Fabrizio Montecchi
