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CHARMS
in a Solo of Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata

THE RESEARCH
"When you come to us, forget everything that you have been accustomed to seeing in all theaters. Maybe a great deal will seem ridiculous. We take a dramatic plot. We develop it slowly at first; then suddenly it is interrupted by seemingly extraneous and clearly ridiculous elements. You are surprised. You want to find that customary logical sequence of connections which, it seems to you, you see in life. But it is not there. Why not ?“
Daniil Charms, 1928
This quotation summerizes the work of the Russian poet and writer Daniil Ivanovic Juvatcev (1905-1942) - pseudonym Daniil Charms, in which he is decribing banal, daily happenings, disturbed human relations and weird observations, which he distorts to an absurd and grotesk extreme.
In “Charms“ Kamid Kartadinata applies the methodes, which Charms is using in his literary work to theater: Creating the suggestion of further information, which is not given later, stepping inside a story over to another story or dropping the ending of a story, ignoring the connection between cause and consequence, and confusing the expectation of conventional styles.

THE MAKER
Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata finished his study at the Mimeschool Amsterdam in 1997 and worked since then with different theatermakers like Ola Maafalani, Karina Holla, Bambie, Noel Fischer, Duro Toomato and Luc Boyer. After making several performances based on the work of Daniil Charms, „Charms“ is the final result of his research about this Russian absurdist.

THE THEATRICAL SITUATION
The Solo takes place in an empty, at least 5 meter high space. In the center of the ceiling are hanging two pulleys. Over each pulley is hanging a rope. On the first rope is hanging a tree on the one side, and the actor, which has the same weight as the tree, on the other side. Because of hanging in balance, it seems that there is no gravity. On the second rope is hanging a lamp on the one side, which is the only light in the performance, and a bag on the other side. The height of the lamp determines what is possible to see: only the feet of the actor or the whole body, only the tree or the whole installation, including parts of the audience. The physical laws turn upside down. The movement is slow and precise, because just a little impuls puts the whole installation for a long time in motion. Every action turns into an attempt.
The audience is seated in a half circle around the installation in a distance of 2 meter to the center, so close that ther is an intimate atmosphere. When entering the space the audience gets 22 questions, which they may ask during the play. Foe example: „Is it finished ?“ or „Why ?“. The texts are told to the audience in a very direct, daily way, while there is in terms of movement a surreal quality because the illusion of lack of gravity.

EVERY EVENING DIFFERENT
Ther are 22 texts from Charms work and diary, and 22 visual scenes. During every performance is determined anew what the audience is going to see. There is no fixed order. In every performance only two third of the material is used, dependend on the audience, coincidence, energie and spontanic impulses. Sometimes there are sounds and noises to hear, which seem to come from somewhere else. A MD-player is put on „shuffle“ and chooses coincidentally the moment and the order of 66 titels, from which 11 are sounds.
The performance is in English (or German). Duration: 1 hour.