Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Nobody Meets Nobody
Grotowski Institute
Genre: Experimental, Movement, Physical Theatre
Venue: Pleasance at EICC
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This was an exhilarating treat, the wait of NOBODY MEETS NOBODY – a show that you will experience in a purpose built pop-up stage at this years Edinburgh Fringe. This show is one of three that you can expect to see in this glorious metal container ‘the cube’, await to see work produced and created under the influences of the Grotowski Institute, all the way from their base in Wroclaw, Poland. Kugacz is a member of Teatr ZAR and brings a performance piece that makes you reflect on the essence of a relationship and how through experimentation and improvisation can explore the methods of Grotowski’s laboratory theatre.
This is an experimental piece of work that delves into the psychological attachment associated with a relationship that was once electrify, but now only exists in memories that present themselves in different forms, that no longer bare resemblance to the original relationship or do they? This take on a complex relationship dynamic will have you on the edge of your seat, with the focus of human contact that is both fleeting and highly intimate in moments of shame and erotica. Manipulation of the physical language of a story is paramount here – you must walk in with an open mind. When talking with the actors after the show, the experimental improvisational aspect of the devising process sounded like a rehearsal you would love to be in and learn from. The Grotowski Institute are also showing free films of the creative process throughout the festival, so do check their website for more information.
Review
What brings a real sense of authenticity to this work is that actors Alexsandra Kugacz-Semerci and Mertcan Semerci are a couple in real life, so this experimental tension induced hour has not only the push and pull conflict you can relate to in abundance but the raw transference that you feel between these two performers. Taking Grotowski’s idea of human contact to a source of stability and familiarity. Relationships are complicated and without giving too much away, you will go away finding parts of this highly relatable or perhaps all, depending on the nature of a relationship you may have had to say goodbye to – or rather hold on to for the wrong reasons. Some slight spoilers, one cannot discuss this piece without some signposting – sorry.
Waiting for the performance to start, you will instantly see items around the space that make you feel uneasy, whilst at the same time your brain associates them with a domestic set up, you will be bemused by the director’s choice of staging, and what correlates when the actors start interacting with the items in an unconventional form, what is ‘normal’ here? As we start to see the looped physical states manifest in new ideas, their interactions feel highly relatable as though the story, rather emotions, begins to present themselves in a non-linear format that you cannot place in a specific time, just moments of people, representing rather than becoming the character. When language is used it is brief, but the choice of where this is placed, feels a slice of reality – muttered under the darkness of the vast stage which is briefly highlighted by free floating light bulbs, giving the feel of a home that has recently been emptied or vacated. This of course is the sub-text for this relationship, no longer existing but still existing in various forms of what we believe the relationship to be. Confused? You may be initially, but what soon manifests is the real tangible idea of watching a relationship disintegrate, then manifest in various new forms that are: playful, toxic, galant and devastating.
At the beginning, you are instantly drawn in to a woman’s formulaic point of reorganising/amending the angle of each chair – changing the direction, the idea, the focus – at first I thought I was watching a woman setting up some chairs for her partner’s funeral and I guess this could be the metaphorical language here. The male proceeds to invade her space and reconfigure the chairs as if a game of chess – sometimes ferocious and other times more tender. This goes on for some time, but is brilliant and conveys without language the bubbling animosity that can erupt so subtly through passive aggressive behaviours when two people within a relationship are no-longer ‘happy’ and simply co-exist in a world, shadows of their former selves and probably lacking the initial spark of what united them to each other in the first place.
This tale was initially based on a short story of a man who ended his relationship with his partner, to then become disabled after a terrible accident – forcing them to co-exist in a relationship, knowing that he was ready to pack his bags and leave. This duo takes the ‘essence’ of this and experiments with the boundaries within a relationship where ‘love’ is fragile and ‘pain’ is real. When Alexsandra Kugacz-Semerci pours water over the entire floor, I felt the pain of this, the disruptive visceral quality of wanting to create chaos around her, if she cannot be happy, he can’t be either. The silence here and throughout the performance are profound, true to Grotowski’s style and methods. I could having been seeing a silent scream and yet, I did not need to; the action was enough. As quickly as the scene is set, the water slowly falls into the floor, becoming just part of the surroundings as does routine, memories and memories of those scares.
The lighting is simple and affective, highlighting the intensity of full face confrontations, gazes missed and the call outs of each other, when they are moving into a space when the memory has already passed – stunning. The power dynamic between both performers is hauntingly formidable, as they compete for power, then revert back to their co-dependency and need for intimacy, but the psychological intimacy has well and truly died.
Expect kettles, knives, chairs, clingfilm, a fish tank and pure recklessness – a car crash of a relationship that can provide profound relatability in a piece of extraordinary game play – are the actors real? The lights keep switching on and off, but who knows if these two characters still co-exist in the same domain? Is this a relationship staggered over time or indeed, souls passing through fragments of their memories and most importantly – who they once was to themselves and indeed to each other?