Directed by Eugenio Barba
Performed by Odin Teatret, Denmark
“In the Odin Teatret’s performance work the energy, actions and precision used in the re-enactment of a story conjures images and transports the spectator from their everyday existence to an extra-daily dimension. A particular performance that most notably demonstrates these similarities between ritual and Odin’s performance work is Inside the Skeleton of the Whale.”
-- Jane Turner, Eugenio Barba
“Inside the Skeleton of the Whale is the production that most clearly makes sense of some of Barba’s writing. The performance is deceptively simple with, as Barba describes, ‘only Kaosmos’s organic dramaturgy, the designs of all the actors’ action and songs. In this performance, the dramaturgy is, more than anywhere else, the ‘simple’ enactment of scores and actions.”
-- Adam J Ledger, Odin Teatret, theatre in a new centry.
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One of the most distinguished figures of international theatre, Eugenio Barba, brings his theatre group, the world famous Odin Teatret from Denmark to China for this unforgettable performance, which will be performed in a renovated riverside wharehouse.
Kafka's parable "Before the Law" tells of a man from the country who, out of subjection and obedience, does not dare to pass through the Door of the Law.
Into this theme the performance weaves metaphysical and nihilistic urges, subterranean plots and black apocryphal versions of the Holy Books. Despair disguises itself as hope, and spiritual extremism assumes an appearance of mocking skepticism. The public space of the theatre turns into a paradoxical space of shared solitude.
The title refers to a verse of the Gospel according to Matthew: Our evil and adulterous generation demands a sign. But no sign will be given to us, except for the sign of Jonas.
About Odin Teatret >>>
Odin Teatret was created in Oslo, Norway, in 1964, and moved to Holstebro (Denmark) in 1966, changing its name to Nordic Theatre Laboratory/Odin Teatret. Today, its members come from a dozen countries and three continents.
Odin Teatret’s almost 50 years as a laboratory have resulted in the growth of a professional and scholarly milieu characterised by cross-disciplinary endeavours and international collaboration. One field of research is ISTA (Inter- national School of Theatre Anthropology), which since 1979 has become a performers’ village where actors and dancers meet with scholars to compare and scrutinise the technical foundations of their scenic presence. Another field of action is the Theatrum Mundi Ensemble, which since the early 1980s presents performances with a permanent core of artists from many traditions.
Odin Teatret has so far created 74 performances, presented in 63 countries and different social contexts. In the course of these experiences, a specific Odin culture has grown, founded on cultural diversity and the practice of ”barter”: Odin actors present themselves through their work to a particular milieu which, in return, replies with songs, music and dances from its own local culture. The barter is an exchange of cultural manifestations and offers not only an insight into the other’s forms of expression, but is equally a social interaction which defies prejudices, linguistic difficulties and differences in thinking, judging and behaving.