BULLETIN
Residency project - Resurrection of Honcivalldina by ARMA theatre, Israel

The project was a combination of a workshop with local Serbian actors and dancers, directed by Lisa Jacobson and Gil Becher of ARMA theatre, to be concluded by a performance as the highlight of the project. We expected a minimum of 15 people at the workshop; finally we were working with 8 very dedicated performers, of diverse background in performing arts, some with professional experience, some with little experience. We worked with the participants for 4 days on physical theatre and the dramatic territory of the bouffon. I must emphasize the serious attitude and open mind the participants showed throughout the project, which were manifested so gracefully  in their ability to work physically very hard for many hours each day, and to retain a great deal of new information and artistic ideas, in such a short time.
The performance is an outdoors site-specific project, inspired by ancient cultures of the middle-east and dealing with social and social-political issues, in a universal regard. The participants were co-operative with the themes of the show and with the "unconventional" artistic form as with the multi-cultural dialogue that was naturally created. With great enthusiasm, we all put our energy together to make the most out of the short time given to this project and performance. The participants worked closely as a team of performers who know each other for a long while, there was group listening, and the kind of complicity we believe in, as one of the participants expressed: "we felt like a family".
We experienced several problems with our requests for technical things and with staging the production on the chosen location at the Dunavski Park, even until a few hours before the show. These delays did force us to deal with a number of issues and were a waste of good quality rehearsal time for us, although, nearly everyone on the festival team was so pleasant and ready to help with any problematic issue, we lost precious time.
As a theatre director and as a writer and actress who performed different versions of the trilogy of "Honcivalldina", I personally have some criticism about the performance and about things that were happening "on stage" at real time. In despite of the short time given and my very critical eye, the participants with our support, managed to perform a great visual bouffon outdoors theatrical spectacle! The show was inspiring and exciting to a crowd of 1,000 local people. Of course- if we had two weeks to work on it, or even a month, it would have improved miraculously. But the point in this project- was not necessarily the final performance, as was the process of work itself. After speaking to the participants, at the end of the project, they realized that each one of them went through a personal voyage, which is significant to their own artistic growth and development.  For us this is the best benefit one can gain from such a short adventure….
Finally we want to thank with all our hearts, for the opportunity and warm hospitality- the artistic director Jadranka Andjelic, the organizers and directors of the festival- Simon and Elsa, the municipality of beautiful Novi-Sad, The Serbian Government parks authority, and the rest of the team of people who helped us: Milan, Dragan, Boris, Milos, Neva, Bojana.
And last but not least- the participants of the project: Tiana, Sasha, Daniela, Theodora, Alexandra, Christian, Dragan, Vincent, Dina and Shanel.
We love you and thank you!

Lisa Jacobson
Gil Becher
ARMA theatre
www.armatheatre.org

-------
<< BULLETIN