THE RESURRECTION OF HONCIVALLDINA

ARMA Theatre, Israel

The Resurrection of Honcivalldina

“The Resurrection of Honcivalldina” is a Bouffon site specific show, which is part 3 of the “trilogy” - about Queen Honcivalldina. This is an outdoors performance with local Serbian actors and dancers, who join the directors of ARMA theatre in a residency workshop and then participate in the performance. The story tells of the search of the high-priest of the people of Honcivalld, for the long-buried queen Honcivalldina, in a far away land. He arrives in Novi Sad and meets local people, who compassionately help him find the last resting place of the dead Queen. They collectively join him in sacred rituals of the four elements, as they dig the Queen out of the earth... as the people gather around and wonder, what is their mysterious mission?

The spectacle “The Resurrection of Honcivalldina” is the outcome of a research about historic cultural origins of Israel, Babylon, Canaan and Assyria, looking into ancient art-work of the region, and combining fine arts with ritualistic theatre work.
The show is a Bouffon spectacle, visual and fantastic. The Bouffon: a metamorphosis of the classical character of the fool, a tragic-comic being. The grotesque Bouffon mocks and censures the behavior of man and society, and warns them of the consequences....
Through the physical and visual elements presented in the spectacle, the spectators are aroused to ask themselves questions dealing with the various themes of the show.
First theme is the basic human right of a people to survive, emphasizing their religion, language, traditions and rituals.
Second theme is “the other”: mutual aid, and the love and respect for “the other”. How are we, as human beings, accepting those who are different than us, whether in religion, race or nationality? Can we “live and let live”?
The third theme presented in this spectacle is the importance of the woman. Many religions and cultures have minimized the importance of women in the past till today. In this show, the sovereign is a woman, a Queen. At the beginning of the 21st century, we are turning back to the old idea of women’s reign.

ARMA Theatre

ARMA Theatre (the Hebrew initials of Earth, Wind, Water & Fire) was founded in 1990 by Lisa Jacobson and Gil Becher. They are inspired by the work methods of Jacques Lecoq and ideas of Antonen Arto and combine diverse techniques of work such as:
Physical theatre, street theatre, site-specific and Bouffon theatre, clown work, plastic-arts, dance, video-art, architecture, light design and man-space-movement relations, indoors and outdoors.

This performance has been supported by the Embassy of Israel in Belgrade.