FORMA

Hotel Pro Forma War Sum up: Music. Manga. Machines (Denmark/Latvia)

This is an absolute sensation of the Materia Prima Festival!

An incredible cooperation of the world famous theatrical group from Denmark and one of the boldest, most innovative choirs in Europe. Coming to Poland  for the Materia Prima Festival as a special guest of Kraków’s Groteska Theatre.

The artist will present an exceptional show with extensive multimedia effects and breathtaking stage design.

Hotel Pro Forma is an international shows and installations laboratory.

Perception, perspective and global themes are mixed with conceptual visual arts and music. Each work is created through an almost scientific approach to knowledge and research, and the theme is often drawn from the scientific worldview. The artistic process is exploratory and trans-disciplinary and the structure is deeply rooted in music, visual arts and architecture. Traditional theatrical structures such as storytelling, text or fable are replaced here with the presentation of visual and musical universes which test universal subjects, such as the evolution of world cultures, perspective and gravity.

The audience is confronted with themes and motifs in the new context and experimental technologies, audio-visual framework, lights and music are often designed afresh for each performance – so the same subject is seen, heard and experienced anew.

Within the last 30 years the group has produced over 50 fantastic shows which have been successfully presented in over 30 countries all over the world.

Hotel Pro Forma was founded in 1985 by the Danish visual artist Kirsten Dehlholm, who is currently the Theatre’s artistic director.

Kirsten Dehlholm is a producer and creator of over 100 shows such as: “Operation: Orfeo”; a show realized in cooperation with Dumb Type entitled “Monkey Business Class”  and the musical play “I only appear to be dead” based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen. These were shown in many prestigious places all over the world, such as: the Venice Biennale, Berliner Festspiele Spielzeit Europa and Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Hotel Pro Forma is supported by Danish Arts Council Committee for the Performing Arts.

The Latvian Radio Choir Founded in 1940 the Latvian Radio Choir is considered to be one of the most boldly innovative choirs in Europe today. Their vast repertoire extends from Renaissance and Baroque to complex works of contemporary classical music.

The Latvian Radio Choir gives up to 60 concerts a year around the world. The show that we will see at the Krakow festival is their second collaboration with Hotel Pro Forma. The first show they prepared together was “”Operation: Orfeo”. The choir is conducted by Sigvards Klava and Kaspars Putnins.

War sum up: Music. Manga. Machines

The Hotel Pro Forma Hotel was prepared in Japanese with Polish subtitles, in coproduction with the Latvian Radio Choir, Latvian National Opera, the Festival of Contemporary Art Ultima Oslo, the Aarhus Concert Hall, the Danish Royal Theatre and Odense Theatre.

The twelve vocalists are accompanied by original light projections which reflect the character of war. This is what this show is about – a military conflict. “War Sum up: Music. Manga. Machines”

One of the protagonists is a Soldier suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). He was sent home but he no longer feels at home in civilian society. And so he returns to the war and dies in an explosion. A monument is raised in his memory.  Another protagonist is a Warrior who is killed in a battle. His unnatural death prevents his soul from a natural transition to the world on the other side. He becomes a spectre, a ghost, who must tell his story in order to find peace. There is also a female spy captured in the war. In order to be freed she must relearn her abilities in the martial arts and transform herself. She is transformed into a super-woman and finally escapes.

All three stories are framed by the woman dressed in yellow. She is the Gamemaster who begins the war. But she is also the person who perpetually continues working because everyday life must go even during the war. She is the Gamemaster, who returns to start a new war.

Each story is intensified and enlarged when the voices of Civilians are heard, as a large choir. Light and dark, colours and patterns in black and white, along with manga drawings in the XL format become intense narrators. The space keeps the scene in a frame that opens up towards the rear at the end of the performance.

The show draws from the Japanese high but also popular culture. The libretto consists of texts inspired by Noh-theatre, written by Japanese masters, which are sung in Japanese. The artists use a variety of musical styles, with classical music providing a spherical, electronic sound whereas pop-music is describing the three characters with a mix of chamber pop and electronica, where man and machine are meld together. The old world meets with the new in order to tell the never-ending story of the nature of war.

Reviews:

“The performance impresses not only with its amazing, modern, ultra-expressive vocal work and the music of Santa Ratniece and The Irrepressibles, but also with the theatrical images by Danish director Kirsten Dehlholm's creative team, showing a surreal visual environment, which reveals the traumatic and monstrous nature of war... “

[Diena]

“The manga opera ‘War Sum Up’ shows in masterly fashion how the performance pioneers Kirsten Dehlholm & Co. have sufficient flying altitude to be able to approach war from the greatest possible distance, to finally end up so close that it hurts.

Amazingly impressive – powerful and visually pure; and the music sucks you in with its intimately melodic, flowing passages, and again with ethereally chanting harmonious sounds like sheer vertical columns.

With her super-taut form, stretched out over the classical proscenium framework, it is a successor to the greatest of their previous hits, ”Operation : Orfeo” staged in 1993.

[Politiken]

…a fantastic work of art that provokes, makes you think and works on a story-telling level. A rare experience, a pearl, totally unique...I shed a tear at the end and this is my own personal stamp of quality.

 [Gaffa]

Duration time: 80 min.

phot. Gunars Janaitis

Artists:

Hotel Pro Forma in collaboration with Latvian National Opera

presents
War Sum Up

Music. Manga. Machines OR A Manga Opera on the Nature of War

Vocals: Latvian Radio Choir

“Gamemaster”: Ieva Ezerite

“Soldier”: Aigars Reinis

“Warrior”: Gundars Dzilums

“Spy”: Ilze Berzina

Conductor: Kaspars Putnins / Sigvards Klava

Director: Kirsten Dehlholm

Concept: Willie Flindt, Kirsten Dehlholm

Music: The Irrepressibles, Santa Ratniece with Gilbert Nouno

Libretto: Texts from classic Noh theatre edited by Willie Flindt

Musical direction: Kaspars Putnins

Costumes: Henrik Vibskov

Light design: Jesper Kongshaug

Set design: Kirsten Dehlholm, Willie Flindt, Jesper Kongshaug

Video technique: Kasper Stouenborg

Video design: Sine Kristiansen

Manga drawings: Hikaru Hayashi

Black and white photos: Zoriah Miller, Dallas Sells, Timothy Fadek, Kirtan Patel, Mário Porral, Richard Bunce

Director’s assistant: Jon R. Skulberg

Technical director, Hotel Pro Forma: Jesper Sønderstrup

Technical director, Latvian National: Opera Vilmars Sadris

Sound engineer: Andris Uze

Video engineer: Ugis Ezerietis

Stage manager: Janis Kalnins

Light engineer: Oskars Plataiskalns

Props and set design assistant: Maria Legaard Kjeldsen

Architects: Nicole Vitner, Runa Johannesen

Production: Hotel Pro Forma, Latvian National Opera

Associate producer: Sarah Ford / Quaternaire

Project coordinators, Hotel Pro Forma: Anders Hanghøj, Maja Brita Hauan

Tour manager: Aicha Boutella / Quaternaire

Bookkeeper, Hotel Pro Forma: John Bruun

Producer, Latvian National Opera: Dace Bula

Managing director, Latvian Radio Choir: Egils Stals

Manager, Hotel Pro Forma: Bradley Allen

Duration 80 minutes, no intermission

World premiere 2 September 2011, Latvian National Opera, Riga.

Performed in Japanese with subtitles in the local language.

War Sum Upis co-produced by the Latvian Radio Choir, Latvian National Opera, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Concert Hall Aarhus, Royal Danish Theatre, Odense Theatre and Hotel Pro Forma.

War Sum Upis supported by Nordic Culture Point, Bikubenfonden, Oticon Fonden and Konsul Georg Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorcks Fond.

Hotel Pro Forma is supported by the Danish Arts Council’s Committee for the Performing Arts.