Metal Music

„Soldering of disparate parts into a whole is among the principle attributes of the work of Handa Gote. As in the last production but one, Rain Dance (see A2 issue 21/2009) or the older Houby / Mushrooms (2008) the spectators are invited into a peculiar world created by its own hand. Costumes, props, set… created by a „Do it Yourself“ method are already recognised features of the company. In Metal Music the performers initially confuse the audience with an empty stage, then gradually fill it. The emptiness, intensified by subsequent events on stage, a little deathly, absurd like a post-apocalyptic tramp around a campfire, full of obsessional happenings (mechanical copulation of puppets, daredevil setting alight of a stove, during which unbelievably no hands are burned), creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, which drags even the spectator into a mode of waiting. „When you have absolutely nothing, create a ritual out of nothing and breathe life into it,“ writes McCarthy in The Road. This is the basis for the behaviour of the characters on stage in Metal Music. It is also the attitude which impresses the spectator: in a ritualised way he watches and listens (it’ s more than just convention), he tries to comprehend what’ s happening. Association here plays a more basic role than anything which could put together some kind of linear story. Interpretation is solitary, individual work; at the same time, however, it is assumed that the public is a well-informed troop.”
Jana Bohutínská: Send Association Freely on a Jaunt. Cultural Weekly A2 15/2010.

„The event is convincing in its resignation on the question of persuasiveness. Thanks to this it creates an environment of very delicate intimacy and harmony between stage and auditorium. It’s a bit like watching from behind the curtains (quietly, with bated breath, infinite patience), like a whimsical neighbor in the courtyard after dark. Audience attention is sharpened by a focus on minimalist symptoms and signs, it aims at them, and is pleased and proud of itself if it captures them. (…) Metal Music finds itself in a scrapmetal yard as in a gallery. At only a minute from the end of the world.”
Ivana Rumanova: Handa Gote Metal Music – Saga about Rust

„The overall impression is very minimalistic and points to today’ s impersonalized lifestyle, as understood by (not only) Handa Gote. The disruptor of this stereoptype is the cheering musical background played on guitar and drums. These instruments are made from the metal and tin which you might find in every household. The performance is interesting above all in its many ways of combining themes of an impersonalized way of life with its stage workmanship.“
Daniel Dubový: A Week of Improvisation – Be Glad and Rejoice. Rozrazilonline.cz 19/10/2010

prepared by: Švábová, Dörner, Hybler, Kropáček, Procházka, Smolík, Ouřadová
production: JedeFrau.org
premiere: 18.6.2010, Studio Alt@

photo: Roman Mikeš