Over 26 years, the company headed by Lloyd Nelson has not only created a new genre called physical theatre but also reformed the genre of feature length dance film. When DV8 first appeared in Hungary, on the invitation of György Szabó, it presented the world premiere of Strange Fish, a piece made for the Barcelona expo which has since become one of the three trend-setting DV8 dance films. It was shown to a full house at Petőfi Csarnok. Many years later, the new piece entitled Can We Talk About This? has once again attracted a great crowd in Budapest despite warnings on the company website that late-comers would not be allowed to enter, it would be compulsory to use the cloak room and that ?the performance contains nudity, rude language and scenes that some people might find morally offensive.?
Australian-born Newson will be 58 this year. After studying psychology in his home country, he won a scholarship at the London Contemporary Dance School which determined his later career.
Since DV8 first appeared in Hungary in 1992, it has returned with Bound to Please in 1997, Just for Show in 2005 and this time with Can We Talk About This?; each of them brand new at the time of their performance in Hungary.
The multinational ensemble?s new piece is an intensive and involving exploration of a very timely issue in western Society: the prospects and limitations of multiculturalism. It raises the question of whether intolerance against intolerance constitutes real intolerance. The uniquely daring and provocative performance deals with freedom of speech, censorship and Islam, and it is based on real-life stories of blood feud, ?honour abuse? and other lowly acts that have received great publicity. The motto of the piece is a quote by Salman Rushdie who said ?"It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it." The stage setup was puritanical and very common: a pattern floor, doors around, a glass surface, a window high above and all surrounded by a thick frame. Europe: a passageway. Europe: our home.
What we saw was in equal terms theatre and dance performance. A documentary piece built from fragments, stories that unfolded in continuous succession and were supported and enhanced by talking heads and talking bodies. Stories that demonstrated two decades of conflicts between Islam and modern Europe. It was a provocation and at the same time, an invitation for collective thinking and for facing the truth. The performance also required strong attention and concentration from the audience which had to keep up with the many layers and fragments it was presented. The excellent translation of the English text was useful even to those who first thought their language skills would be good enough so that they would not need a translator. The text based on interviews, television and radio broadcasts and news reports was excellently recited by the dancers who were in the meantime also making the most physically exhausting moves. The main subjects, dates and names that gave the backbone of the piece were also written on the walls. Next to Rushdie, there appeared the name of Somalian-born writer and politician Ayaan Hirshi Ali, the brutally murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and many other, non-famous victims. The performers brought to life many different characters, including artists, teachers and students, who have all fallen victim of religious extremists who flatly reject rational reasoning, debate or counter-opinion, and even mercy. Sitting in an audience at Trafó, these problems may sometimes appeared to be far-away from Hungary but one could not be more wrong. In an unexpected move, an audience member stood up and started shouting on the way out of the room: ?This is homo-phobic bullshit, Islam-haters.? For those that paid close attention to the performance, it was clear that this comment had zero relevance. After the play, our assumption of a plain-clothes provocateur was confirmed. DV8 had used a similar trick already in Bound to Please but still, for one second, it sent chills down our spine.
Newson, a great master of clever and responsible provocation has once again addressed key issues, placed them on unshakeably strong moral grounds and approached them with the precision of a documentarist. It is rare these days that a performance would make audiences really think. But Newson has been repeatedly doing this for a quarter of a century. And it is welcome news that he held auditions for a new piece also in Budapest.
Author: Tamás Halász / Photo: Trafó
