IT WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE FOR US TO OBSERVE THE RELATIONSHIP AND TOGETHERNESS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

The Nová síť, together with the organisers of the European project SPARSE Plus, organised a tour of the improvisation performance of the group We Boys Who Walk Together during the summer and autumn. The tour took place at Rezi.Dance in Komařice, at the Theatrum Kuks festival, in Valdštejnská lodžie, at the summer cinema in Chvalčov and at the Plum Court in Malovice. We bring you an interview about how the tour itself was perceived by the actors, how they enjoyed the whole tour through rural areas and what they think is the beauty of improvisation.

How do you rate the tour?

We think the tour was successful. It was definitely a success for us.

What surprised you most during the tour, either positively or negatively?

We were pleasantly surprised by the audience and the places we performed. It was definitely nice to get out of our usual circle of Prague audiences thanks to the tour and to be able to play in different parts of the country for the local community. And in beautiful venues that we had never played before. Everywhere we went we met a professional and friendly production and technical crew who were so helpful in preparing the show.

How did the audience react to your improvisation in different places? Were the reactions different depending on where you played?

The reactions weren't different depending on where we played. It was more based on whether we were improvising well or not.
However, there was some difference in the reactions compared to our performances in Prague in terms of the gratitude we felt from the audience throughout the tour. We felt that somehow people were more appreciative of the opportunity to see something new.

What was your relationship with the local communities? Do you involve the audience in your improvisations in any way?

Yes, we like to involve the audience in the improvisations and interact with them. Just the fact that we've performed, for example, in non-theatrical spaces and environments that the local community knows a little bit differently than how we use the space has shaped a certain relationship and interaction between us and the audience. We were sort of guests in their environment. We probably felt this most during the performance of Feast, which we performed for the locals in Komařice. They played the guests in the feast that we brought to them, but we were the real guests in that environment. It was a special experience for us to see the relationship and togetherness of the local community coming together to enjoy an evening in the theatre.

How does the setting and atmosphere of a particular place influence your improvisation and acting?

The space in which we perform definitely influences us, in the sense of whether we are performing inside a theatre space or outside in an open space. Our improvisation is then influenced by whether the space is bounded by something or not. In Jičín, for example, our improvisation was probably closest to what the Prague audience knows from our regular performances, because we were playing in a closed space with a theatre set and everything. In Chvalčov, on the other hand, it was completely different, because we played outside in front of the screen of the summer cinema, and we had to occupy the space differently than we are used to. At the Kuks festival, we played in a tent, which in a way also determined the atmosphere of the performance.

Do you prepare before the performance and how?

We always warm up and sing, that's the main thing. But we try not to talk about what tonight's performance should be about.
Part of the preparation for the performance is the preparation of the props, which we don't bring with us, but we use whatever we can find at the moment. This is also one of the things (going back to the previous question) that will influence each of our performances quite a bit - what objects we find in the space. We only bring our costumes.

The biggest preparation for each show is done by our lighting technician, Jonathan, who prepares and focuses the lights before the show.

But we always try to enjoy our time in a different environment. In Chvalčov we went swimming before the show, in Komařice we spent the whole week, in Jičín we went for a walk in the gardens. That's the best thing about the tours for us, that we get to spend at least a few hours in the places before the performance, soaking up the atmosphere, ideally even sleeping there. It's not just a matter of getting there, playing and leaving.

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of improvisation compared to a classic script?

The disadvantage is definitely that it might not turn out well at all. That the show will just fail and be terrible. But that adrenaline rush is also fun. We don't see improvisation as a stale routine and it pushes us further in our skills and abilities on stage.
The advantage is that you don't have to remember anything and we are more flexible in choosing themes that we feel resonate with the audience. We can change themes depending on what people are responding to, how we are feeling, or even the time and place we are in.

How do the individual members of your group participate in the creation of the improvisations? Does each member have a specific role or approach?

We have musicians and lighting people whose role in the performances is clearly defined - they complete the atmospheres of the situations with light and sound. As for the actors, I think everyone has a different strength that they bring to the performances. But the longer we play together, the more this distinction blurs. Only Andrej can still move better.

What is your personal relationship to improvisation? What do you like most about it?

We enjoy improvisation because it is a dynamic form. For example, when I come up with a lighting design for another performance, that's where the fun ends because it's always the same and routine. But with improvisation it's always different and surprising.

The uniqueness of each performance is what we generally enjoy about improvisation. It's not that we've been doing the same thing for 5 years, but in those 5 years we've done a different show every time. Because every show is a premiere and a dernière at the same time. At the same time, there's always something to explore and somewhere to go with improvisation and how to work it into performances.

Last but not least, we enjoy the team of people we get to work with. It's a dream come true to make theatre with our friends.

Your greatest experience on the tour?

Definitely the time spent in Komarice and the unique staging of our show Feast, which was the first time we took it outside of Prague. It was also probably the most intense time we had on the tour as we spent a week there. It gave us a little taste of circus life, in the sense that we spent the day preparing the show, then went on stage in the evening and processed our impressions together after the show.
Apart from that, it was also a wonderful experience for us to play in Jičín, where we somehow went back to the days of studio playing in an intimate space.



Answers by: Andrej Lyga, Šimon Pliska, Lukas Blaha, Václav Wortner, Jonatan Vnouček

Photos: Valdštejnská Lodžie, REZI.DANCE Komařice