Matéi Visniec‘s Decomposed Theatre is an experimental modular play, like a series of short stories which can be arranged and rearranged in any order. It was written in the 1990s shortly after the author fled the Ceausescu regime in Romania to settle in France, and reflects on themes of censorship and ideology. Since then, these fragments have presented a fascinating conundrum and provocation for theatre – makers and audiences worldwide.
Three of these fragments are presented here in a new audio adaptation. They describe three plagues descending on an unnamed town, each one more strange and more insidious than the one before. Through Visniec’s vision, we can reflect on our own experience of crisis and change today, the impact of a pandemic on our everyday lives, media consumption and political reality.
Writer: Matéi Visniec
Translator: Jozefina Komporaly
Director: Kate O’Connor
Recording and Music: Sam Halmarack
Performer: Maria Forrester
Publicity image from Homme Miroir, etching by Andra Badulesco Visniec
A Trafika Europe Radio/Romanian Cultural Institute New York/University of the Arts London (Research at Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Colleges of Arts) production, with support from Romanian Cultural Institute London.
Theatre Decomposed is an audio production available on Omnibus Theatre’s YouTube channel and as a podcast.
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