Trupa OvoOno, premiere 28th January 2024
Maybe one of the hardest things to do in art – and therefore in theatre – is to produce a sense of lightness and effortlessness while at the same time, making it obvious to the audience that a serious amount of work and creative force has been put in to a piece.
Now a show that started of as the master’s exam piece of producer and dramaturg Katarina Krešić has wowed audiences and critics, and forged a life even after delivering Krešić a well-deserved diploma. Ubu Ovo Ono is announced as a spectacle intended to be performed at fairs, foreshadowing the spirit of the theatre piece itself, with its reliance on the aesthetics of medieval and renaissance-style traveling troupes, the kind of show designed to be charming enough for street audiences to toss a coin their way.
As a basis for his original text, young playwright Vid Lež takes the inspiration from Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi. As the title itself tells us – it’s Ubu “this” and Ubu “that” – meaning in practice that the Ubu Ovo Ono borrows the concept of a play-within-play present in the original and toys around with the narrative of King Ubu, one that the troupe is spectacularly unsuccessfully trying to put on stage.
In their preparations to stage the legendary events of Jarry’s King Ubu, a parallel battle for the throne of the chief of the troupe is on-going, between the former actor in charge (Igor Jurinić) and the new, ambitious replacement (Domagoj Ivanković) out to get the leading role of Ubu. The task is fairly easy as Jurinić’s character suffers from ego issues of his own, insisting on being called by his pretentious, artistic name – Sforzando – and undermining the acting abilities of his colleagues. So, a coup, just like in Jarry’s play takes place in the acting troupe. But, once more, the fictions of its two dimensions slide into the next layer of (fictional) reality, and Ubu – now played by Ivanković, instead of Jurinić – begins to show his oppressive side and blind ambition in the process of rehearsals.
The preparations for the show are soon overwhelmed by private issues and the group dynamics of the troupe itself, and the story of Ubu falls in the background, making place for personal dramas. These include the inevitable love problems – Ivan Simon’s character’s unmatched love for Maruška Aras’s lead actress/Mama Ubu – and various dissatisfactions with management. In this acting troupe, each and one of the members, feels to be underappreciated for their abilities, aspirations and talents and the clever scheme of Ivanković’s character, finds a fertile ground. Each of the actors carries a piece of Ubu’s thirst for power in themselves (as do we all) but also shares his cowardness to take responsibility for him or herself (as do we all) – until opportunity arises. It takes one to light the match and the fire starts, and soon everybody is producing a show of their own: Aras coming on the stage as the diva she always intended to be and the sweet character of Tea Harčević finally showing everybody she can stand up for herself and put everyone in their rightful place. The fragile souls and even more fragile egos which make up the charming personas of the troupe Ubu Ovo Ono, win us over with their child-like behaviours and need to connect to one another and/or with someone. Again, they search for something, we all, at the end of the day, hope to find – their own place under the stars.
Ubu Ovo Ono. Photo: Tomi Barcul
The production’s pace is fast and snappy, functioning as an interchanging montage of scenes from the world of the troupe and the world of the play, with the themes cleverly slipping from one world to the other. This metatheatrical world reaches out across the forth wall, playing with the space of the audience and interacting with them, pleading with them or just outright threatening them to like the show. Director Dražen Krešić has been, over the last year and a bit, lining up a successful repertoire, with is his ability to be inspired by his co-workers and co-authors, putting forward the best they have to offer.
For example, in one of the scenes, Ivanković takes the characters of Simon and Knez into his lap and turns them into his puppets to offer a staging solution of a scene in the Ubu play. Trained in puppeteering as well, Ivanković, along with his partners, does an exquisite job of handling two live bodies as oversized marionettes. Dražen Krešić also taps into the musicality of actors like Igor Jurinić and the overall musical potential of the creative team (the music is composed by Antun Aleksa as well as the text’s author and the dramaturg Vid Lež and Katarina Krešić). This results in a collection of amusing musical numbers which are performed with a carry-on piano and a broom.
Krešić also has a particular talent for marrying theatre with pop culture, something he has also pursued in Gard in the same house Ubu Ovo Ono premiered recently: Theatre&TD. It is even hard to keep up on all the references and genres that Ubu Ovo Ono incorporates and jump between. it’s a cabaret and variety show par excellence which never feels schizophrenic or forced, combining a very theatrical form of theatre, impressive physical theatre (there are great battle scenes by Melisa Beqaj), music, sketches and much more.
Maybe the most fascinating thing is how well the acting ensemble works together and how compatible they are in comparison to their characters. The chaos they portray is nowhere present in the meticulous way they lead us through this ludic patchwork of scenes from theatre-within-a-theatre-within-a-theatre. We never know exactly where we’ll land but, in their hands, we are confident it’s going to be fun, dynamic and guaranteed to make us laugh.
Credits:
Director: Dražen Krešić Text: Vid Lež//Producer/dramaturg: Katarina Krešić //Music: Antun Aleksa, Vid Lež and Katarina Krešić
For tour date and more information, visit: OvoOno.hr
Further reading: review of Andras Urban’s Ibi the Great
