Review: AN ALPINE SYMPHONY at Wroclaw Mime Theatre

Wroclaw Mime Theater's new show is something different.

It’s extremely difficult (even not possible) to write the first sentence of the review and not to mention the scenography and the images that we see immediately when entering the room. To say that Natalia Mleczak did a great job is like saying nothing, the atmosphere she created is even hard to explain, but let me try. A mixture of pastels, nature, and soft runaway materializes in front of our eyes with mimes bringing this moment to life. We all have our peaks. I don't like mountains and I think it's mutual, I tried to live in the Alps and the Tatras, and a few times I exceeded 16,000 feet in the Andes. It's hopeless and I hate it, but if there's a chance I'll feel in the Himalayas like I felt in Piekarnia, I'd pack my bag in a second. Mleczak captured the note of freedom and nostalgia that can be found in the mountains (or so they say). The costumes are also excellent, referencing the classic mim unitard but with a colorful and modern twist. Well, mimes are no longer people with painted white faces, welcome to modern times. Also: Wanda’s coat is a piece of art itself!

The story that Cezary Tomaszewski serves us is inspired by Wanda Rutkiewicz, it is not her biography but a presentation of an angle of her being. After watching this show, I imagine her as an independent woman with a huge need for freedom and to live by her own rules. Have you ever tried to put a mountain man or woman in a box? Every line drawn by society is like a golden cage for them and it's an image we can see not only of her but also of a hilarious group character, the mime gang (Jan Kochanowski, Agnieszka Kulinska, Mariusz Nguyen, Jakub Pewinski, Artur Borkowski, Krzysztof Szczepanczyk, Agnieszka Charkot) living in the mountains according to their own rules.

Wanda is a triple (Agnieszka Dziewa, Monika Rostecka, and Malgorzata Biela) because, after all, we have different people and faces within us; it works as a charm.

Each performance of the Wroclaw Mime Theater is the poetry of movements and feelings. It's absolutely hypnotic. Now the mimes are floating above the ceiling, falling from the roof (lots of high altitude action is going on), and showcasing the power of the body itself. Plus smoke, Nepalese mysticism, and the magic of determination. Not only there are circus acrobatics, but the director juggles with patterns and images. So there is Wanda as a triple trying to climb the peak but a yeti/pope wants to stop her at all costs. They literally pushing themselves off the top. That's probably how the woman felt when her big success was eclipsed by the Polish pope's election. Well, he rained on her parade. She was not appreciated and understood during her lifetime, which is why she chose silence, and here the reference is to mimes as they don't talk either. The performance is, however, wordy, if not a bit too much for my taste, and I'm not sure if this story needed so many words. I loved the narratives, the jokes, the context, or “le petit croissant” (I want to believe it was mispronounced on purpose), but in this context, the words are not a blessing in disguise.

I adored the show for its innovative beautiful images and atmosphere out of my world. The icing on the cake is the music of Richard Strauss and Britney Spears. Yes, it's happening and it's brilliant!

Photo: Natalia Kabanow