Silenzio! Lose Yourself to Insanity... Or Get Lost On The Way
Silencio. Photo credit Maurycy Stankiewicz.
A UK premiere for Birmingham’s Fierce Festival in the CBSO, Silenzio!
Review by Ellie Blackwell
This is no traditional opera. Four striking women take to the sold-out stage to stupefy the art scene, distorting female societal standards. A UK premiere for Birmingham’s Fierce Festival in the CBSO, Silenzio! was choreographed by Ramona Nagabczyńska and co-created and performed with Katarzyna Szugajew, Karolina Kraczkowska, Barbara Kinga Majewska.
I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this.
We were plunged, suddenly, into darkness and thus silence, which ended abruptly with theatrical music and stark lighting. Four motionless women were illuminated on stage. After a strange but interesting opening, that had the somewhat bemused audience chuckling, came the promised operatic aspect. But the first, soprano sounds that emerged were more like harrowing wails than angelic voices, and this quickly grew into an enraged scene of melodramatic angst and slight psychosis. In fact, I felt that the whole piece had an intentionally warped and nightmarish feeling you just couldn’t wake up from. Despite this, the four talented performers had wonderful voices, and the operatic aspect was sumptuous.
The Fierce Festival. Silencio. Photo credit Maurycy Stankiewicz.
Not long after, the atmosphere on stage changed all of a sudden, throwing us into another of choreographer Ramona Nagabczyńska’s unconventional worlds. Ingeniously innovative, she uses the ancient Greek practice of aischyrology (comfortably expressing oneself with obscene and vulgar language) to stun her audience, with the dialogue becoming fruitier by the minute. Though every aspect of the scene from the dresses to the dancing screamed female repression, the script was anything but. Slight nudity, graphic scenes and vulgar language mean this production is probably not your next wholesome family watch. As well as this, if you feel like your senses become over-stimulated quite easily, be prepared.
The Fierce Festival. Silencio. Photo credit Maurycy Stankiewicz.
If you’re a hardcore theatre goer looking for your next crazy experience, Silenzio! is something you cannot miss. Going from gory to ironically melodramatic, to comical, to absolutely freaking insane the piece had me completely second-guessing the art of performance. Twisting and turning, Silenzio! proved purposefully unpredictable and perturbing to the point when you realised you had a choice. Succumb to its insanity or get utterly lost on the way.
First published with Voicemag.
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