There wasa ticking, then the steps of some dancers endlessly rotating, an old lady winking at someone who was coming, gushes of light from a fountain decomposing in rogvaiv, some tune I must have heard once… and darkness. I have just described the outlines of a sensorial suggestive experience, and, certainly, I conjured up many memories. Though it was rather blurred, yet tangible, that was Darren Almond’s installation If I had you (try the GOOGLE) I experienced four years ago at Palazzo della Ragione in Milan.
There were four screens, on which they projected short fragments of films, quite unrelated, yet palatable as a whole. The idea was built up from various spaces and times, and every viewer could find his/her world, stories; it was a mechanism that triggered emotions and inner feelings. Let me tell you something about Darren, because his installation has an inbuilt theatre feature, and this 55th issue of ours tells something about theatre.
No one has ever seen elaborated ceremonies for such a number as the 55th, but you can’t fail to see its consummate symmetry, with no mystical overtone. It does not matter! If you were concerned with coincidence and mirror games, you would enjoy our story about theatre stage design. This art speaks about the building sensitivity (shared by our professions) finely polished so as to become its major tool. See, we, the architects, perceive it well. The stage designers interpret a story in which space and time have to be built and modeled by way of matter, light, and sound. Beyond building, stage design contains much mirage, hints, dislocation, and compact space. It is about a slight shift of accent.
This issue could not dowithout Liviu Ciulei, the director, stage designer, the architect, along with great names from several generations of stage designers: Sergiu Singer, Jean-Guy Lecat, Catalin Ionescu Arbore, Dragos Buhagiar, Alina Herescu, Ina Isbasescu.
Now, let us take a bow and expect that each of them will be applauded.
