TIERNO BOKAR. To 26 June.
Coventry.
TIERNO BOKAR
by Marie-Helene Estienne from Vie et enseignement de Tierno Bokar Le sage de Bandiagara by Amadou Hampate Ba.
Warwick Arts Centre To 26 June 2005.
Wed-Sat 7.30pm Sun 4pm.
Runs 1hr 40min No interval.
TICKETS: 025 7652 4524.
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 June.
Lev Dodin, Peter Brook the theatre world's at Warwick arts this month.
Sold out in advance, such is the reputation of Peter Brook, once of Stratford-upon-Avon, but for years of Paris's Theatre des Bouffes du Nord and Centre for International Theatre Research (officially, this isn't a Brook production, but a theatrical research'), Tierno Bokar stages scenes from the life of an early 20th century African sage, based on a book by one of his many disciples.
Stages is a better word than dramatises; this is theatre without dramatic temperament; the opposite to Brook's RSC Artaudian 1960s work, such as Marat/Sade and US. Brook's programme note says their shock-effect now, is so close to daily life that it has become quite ordinary. Today, our urgent need is to catch glimpses of what our lives have lost.
The remarkable man Brook has us meet is very local. One of his pupils is asked the capital of France by Bruce Myers' French authority-figure (the only White actor, entering long after others in the ensemble). He names the nearest town. It's as if a Yorkshire villager, asked to name France's capital, answered with Leeds. The point is not only ignorance of Paris; it's even more the sense even the local town is remote.
Along with this goes a life lived from the inside. One of the few obvious gestures comes when Tierno visits his first cinema, walking out with a dismissive arm wave. Contrasting this is the peaceful symbolism of his final, fixed gesture as he dies, a finger pointed out at heart level. Such peace and steadiness, played on the restful set of rugs, could prove enervating. Certainly any false note would jar.
Yet, as always, Brook's theatre seems of a different order from the usual effortful strivings and effect-making. Life flows seamlessly, even the unused actors at any moment giving a sense of a world little governed by time, something culminating in Tierno's final static gesture. Such serenity and stability is as much a challenge as the sound and fury of Brook's sixties work. This is the only planned British date; a coup for Warwick, a blow for people unable to get a ticket.
Cast: Habib Dembele, Rachid Djaidani, Djeneba Kone, Sotigui Kouyate, Tony Mpoudja, Bruce Myers, Abdou Ouologuem, Helens Patarot, Dorcy Rugamba, Pitcho Womba Konga.
Director: Peter Brook.
Lighting: Philippe Vialatte.
Music: Toshi Tsuchitori, Antonin Stahly.
2005-06-23 13:52:30