Odysseus Chaoticus: A comedy for heroes
Odysseus Chaoticus indeed. This piece is visually compelling, innovative, surprising, intimate, vulnerable, riotous, bawdy, eloquent and well executed to boot! A liberal dose of nourishing comedy for us heroes of the day-to-day.
Odysseus Chaoticus is based on the travels of Odysseus, king of Ithaca (or is that Sparta? – ha ha). Parts of the mythological Odyssey are woven through the story of an eccentric Italian family; a dreamy husband escapes his mundane routine in favor of an imaginative journey inspired by the Odyssey. Physical theater, howlingly funny clown work, acting, dance and complex harmonic singing, sounds and beat-boxing are all packed into a deliberately 'low-tech' concept. There is a strong commitment to conveying a narrative through-line, fearlessly embodying a spectrum of beings from sheep to passionately libido-driven men, women and gods, as well as intimately portraying the emotional complexity inherent to the human family.
The players made their entrance and, when a doddering, wild-haired old man was helped onto stage by his son I heard, from a few rows behind me, “He’s like me!”. Right from the first minutes, the audience was ‘in’ and it is this skill - to bring each of us listeners directly in to the experience of an imagined family, which makes this piece so successful – and cathartic.
Formed in 2008, Ish Theater is an exciting new Israeli physical theater ensemble stretching the realm of physical theater, clowning and mime, all on a foundation of ancient myths, folk tales and archetypical themes.
The founding members of the group - Fyodor Makarov, Noam Rubinstein and Yolana Zimmerman, have been friends since their days as young aspiring theater students in Israel and share a long history of creative collaboration. The philosophy behind the company is that “theater, in order to regain its strength and impact, sometimes needs to refer to the past and move away from our present and often turbulent times towards the poetic, the comic and the surreal, allowing a different perspective to our everyday reality”. Surely this philosophy is informed by the work that two of the members of the troupe do as Medical Clowns.
Clown Doctors use techniques such as magic, music, storytelling and other clowning skills to empower patients with doses of fun that help them deal with the range of emotions they may experience while in hospital: fear, anxiety, loneliness, boredom.
As Noam Rubinstein, one of the players, said during the talk-back which I was also privileged to attend, “in the hospital, you get a strong dose of a certain aspect of ‘reality’.” The work of the clowns is to remind and re-infuse that ‘reality’ with another strong aspect – that of light, connection, humour and release.
I am thrilled to know that it is they who today made a visit to Vancouver’s Children’s Hospital, and it is they who will continue to build this tender work of madness and dreams which reflects hilariously and heartfully on the chaotic Odyssean journey of life.