BRAVE NEW LIFE
The origin of Brave New Life began in 2019 as part of the international project Shaking The Walls, funded by the European Union's Creative Europe program. In the first phase, there were several debates on current topics. The focus was on the phenomenon of the truth from various perspectives of the pre-revolutionary and contemporary generations. The issue of disinformation and conspiracy proved to be crucial. Based on this controversial motive, the Czech-Slovak creative team led by Peter Radkoff and director Jozef Vlk set to work. The final form of the production was created during four intensive creative residencies during 2020 in Tabačka, Slovakia and Cooltour, Czech Republic.
After less than a year of work, the team created much more current piece of art than they initially thought. Brave New Life connects theater, movement, live music and VJing. The Slovak playwright Michaela Zakuťanská took care of the text component, Stanislava Vlčeková is responsible for the choreography. An equally important role in the project is played by the original music of Ladislav Pálmai, which is complemented by the drum set by Marek Žiliniec. The urgency of the message is underlined by intensive projections by visual designer Jakub Pišek and light design by Ints Plavnieks. Michal Noga (Slovak actor), Zuzana Psotková (Slovak actress), Daniel Raček (Slovak dancer) and Jana Ryšlavá (Czech dancer) perform very well balanced acting and dancing harmony.
Daniel Raček (Solus). Photo: Tibor Czitó
The premiere supposed to take place at the 7th annual festival of dance, circus and new theater MOVE Fest 2020 in Ostrava in May 2020. Due to the lock-down and subsequent reduction, it was rescheduled to the fall and after nine months of intensive preparations it took place on Wednesday 16 September 2020 in Košice and on Wednesday 7 October in the Cooltour Cultural Center as part of the MOVE Fest .
Performance annotation
"Do you want to know the truth? The Ministry of Truth has it. The Ministry of Truth will provide you with a beautiful new life, protecting you from misinformation and conspiracy. The world is divided into winners and losers, east and west, north and south, zeros and ones, and what is not true is a lie or a hoax.
A man of the masses, Solus, comes to the Ministry of Truth to find his place in the world. The power representative Hygiea and her commando consisting of Troll and Die Machenshaft help him orient himself in the search for truth in the flood of information and in the dual world of confirmation and rejection of substantiated or unsubstantiated messages. There is nothing more to fight for. A society that is about higher interests and good is disappearing, security is collapsing and the ground can be flat. The world is made up of isolated individuals who know only one answer, and that is the common truth that everyone has.
The non-classical theatrical text is based on contributions from internet discussions and pages and thus forms a metatext composed of shitstorm, in which today's man gets lost. "
Trailer
The Team
Concept: Peter Radkoff
Text: Michaela Zakuťanská
Directed by: Jozef Vlk
Choreography: Stanislava Vlčeková
Visual design: Jakub Pišek
Set design: Peter Radkoff
Lighting design: Ints Plavnieks
Sound: Pavel Vitt
Music: Ladislav Pálmai, Marek Žilinec
Costumes: Katarína Latócky
Cast: Michal Noga, Zuzana Psotková, Jana Ryšlavá, Daniel Raček
Voice: Martin Šalacha
Production: MOVE Ostrava z. S.
Production: Michaela Králiková
The performance was co-produced by the Cooltour Ostrava Cultural Center and Tabačka Kulturfabrik Košice. Co-financed by the European Union's Creative Europe - Shakin g The Walls program. The production was supported by the Moravian-Silesian Region, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Statutory City of Ostrava. The production was supported by the Art Support Fund from public sources.
The technical requirements
Photo
Media responses
Pandemic horror or (un) real life in virtual space Monitoring of theaters in Slovakia
"Brave New Life" | Dance Magazine
Forward! (Move Fest) | Fulmoonzine.cz
Brave New Life - It's time to come out with the truth Dance news