reviewed by Paula Citron
______________________________
Stones
Orto-Da Theatre Group
Conceived by Yinon Tsafrir and Yifat Zandani Tsafrir
Directed by Yinon Tsafrir, Avi Gibson Bar-El and Daniel Za-afarani
In Tel-Aviv
_______________________________
If the theatre gods are kind, the Israeli show Stones will come to Toronto. The inspired physical theatre production has been touring the world since its creation in 2005.
Stones brings to life Nathan Rapoport’s famous 1948 sculpture “In Your Blood is My Life”. Also known as “The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument”, the real sculpture is in Warsaw. There is also an exact copy at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. The original sculpture is made of the mammoth granite blocks that Hitler intended to use as his monument to the triumph of Nazism in Europe.
Orto-Da Theatre Group’s production features six mimes covered in dried Dead Sea mud as the living recreation of the figures on this famous work. It is absolutely startling as these characters awaken, and then enact a journey that travels from the past to the present, evoking haunting images of both darkness, and, surprisingly, humour. The sound track is a brilliant collection of found music.