Preview
THE SUICIDE
Boca del Lupo and San Banquito Teatro
Presented as part of the High Performance Rodeo
Runs January 13 to 15
Vertigo Playhouse (Tower Centre)
Imagine, if you will, an Italian-named Canadian company co-producing a contemporary take on a classic Russian satire with a Mexican troupe in both English and Spanish. Absurd? Of course it is.
Vancouver’s Boca del Lupo (or "mouth of the wolf"), heading to Calgary for the High Performance Rodeo, has joined forces with Mexico’s San Banquito Teatro for a co-production of Nikolai Erdman’s political satire The Suicide, and in a time when all eyes are focused on the U.S., it’s a rather refreshing exchange. As Boca del Lupo’s artistic director Jay Dodge observes, the tour has been as successful as the exchange itself.
"Inadvertently, we found so many similarities instead of differences in our cultures after going to Mexico," says Dodge. "We really found kindred spirits there in mentality, artistic interests and humour. We picked this play together because it somewhat represented the common struggle of Mexico and Canada as being on opposite sides of the United States, and how one finds a voice within that."
Boca del Lupo’s collaboration began when the company was invited to perform at Mexico’s prestigious Cervantino Festival, representing Canada alongside Montreal’s Marie Chouinard and Vancouver artist Uzume Taiko. Boca del Lupo received the 2003 Alcan Performing Arts Award to help commission the production, and the two companies engaged in a developmental exchange in both countries before the 2004 premières of The Suicide.
"We’ve decided to call this an international-multidimensional-almost-original adaptation," says Dodge with a laugh. "It’s the first time we’ve adapted something, but it’s still in the nature and spirit of what we do, and since then we’ve made a shift to focus on international collaboration and touring in the future."
Boca del Lupo’s success over the last decade is a testament to its highly physical and innovative approach and methodology, which Dodge describes as a longer rehearsal period and an instinctually-driven, visceral approach to character and narrative that engages performer, performance and audience. Often working with acrobatics and sensory audio-visual elements, Boca del Lupo has performed everywhere from underground parking lots to treetops, and while Dodge sees The Suicide as somewhat linear next to their usual abstraction, enthusiastic audiences and critics have seen anything but that.
The Suicide is one of two plays penned by Erdman in the 1920s before he drifted into obscurity as a film writer. A revealing portrait of the former U.S.S.R. after 1917’s October Revolution, the story revolves around Semyon Semyonovitch, an unemployed, tuba-playing everyman whose trip to the refrigerator for some sausage gets mistaken by his mother-in-law as an attempt to end his life. Before long, all the neighbours visit, each begging that Semyon commit suicide in the name of a cause.
Although Erdman’s previous play, The Mandate, was hailed as the "first truly Soviet play," The Suicide came to be regarded as the opposite under Stalin. For giving a voice to the Everyman in a world where "only the dead can say what the living think," the play was banned after 18 months of rehearsal, and was forgotten until the 1970s. Erdman never saw its publication or production. Today, as Dodge observes, it’s a satire that seems to re-emerge in times of necessity.
"It’s one of those plays that goes through cycles of pertinence," he says. "As we see ourselves linked to the U.S., who carry the banner of democracy but act so differently globally, as dictators, we can see the same thing happening back in Russia in the ’30s – (the Soviets) parading the greater good but using it for their own purposes."
After obtaining the rights for The Suicide, both Boca del Lupo and San Banquito were free to adapt (and abstract) the text. Incorporating video and rigging elements while taking the comedy’s physicality and visual material to its limits, the company also created two texts with varying degrees of Spanish translation for the show’s Canadian and Mexican premières. By bringing in stronger physical recognition, Dodge says there’s a charming connection that happens with the audience regardless of language.
While Canadians are obsessed with exploring their unique identity, Dodge stresses the need for a shift in focus. "We enter into a lot of discussions about what it means to be multicultural, but we’re looking to take that out of the margins – it’s already everywhere. You really notice how diverse we are when you see how homogenous other countries are, and I think it’s time to re-approach things." |
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