KAZAK: widunderbaum

“Care is taken that trees do not grow into the sky.” – Goethe

Photo David Dollman

The taiga, is a place of mystery. A place beyond our immediate comprehension. Deep down in the dark and humid forest, in its waste areas and inhospitable terrain, the world seems a little different. You seem a little different. Senses open up, instincts awaken, the familiar becomes the unfamiliar and vice versa. In the final part of the trilogy KAZAK, the Norwegian theatre collective NONcompany grasps the atmosphere of the forest and the way it feeds the imagination.

KAZAK: widunderbaum is NONcompany’s artistic conclusion to the project. In this production the company has created an abstract, fantasy taiga landscape, based on experiences and memories from their expeditions in this forest. Here they treat KAZAK’s thematic from a final angle: how belonging can be constructed and re-constructed, or a place to belong can be created and re-created. For this last piece the material was seen in retro perspective, and inspired their collective imagination to create their own taiga landscape.

KAZAK: widunderbaum  starts where the trilogy’s second part ended. A lonely man clinging to the last tree surrounded by desert. After some attempts the man let go of the tree and walk into an uncertain future, a blank landscape, a white sheet of paper. And this is where NONcompany starts their last tale. With something that feels like a status quo, an almost empty space. Taking a closer look one will see that the few elements present are alive, but somehow wrapped up, or artificially kept alive. And from this hibernating landscape, the spirit of the taiga slowly awakens as the company builds their fantasy taiga landscape.

NONcompany places all elements on equal footing and creates technical effects on the spot. With this hands on approach a transparent, but also mystical world starts to arise. Perspectives become fluid and reflections fade away before you get the chance to catch them. With KAZAK: widunderbaum NONcompany invites you into the forest of their imagination.`

KAZAK: widunderbaum had its premiere at Teaterhuset Avant Garden August 31, 2015, as the opening performance of the international festival BASTARD.

Created in a collective process and performed by: Lise Risom Olsen, Lena Lundsten Buchacz, Hans Skogen, Morten Pettersen, Øyvind B. Lyse, Brynjar Vik.`
Producers: Tone Myklatun, Annette van Zwoll
Co-produced by: BIT Teatergarasjen and Teaterhuset Avant Garden
Collaborators: Uferstudios Berlin
Supported by: Arts Council Norway, The City Council of Bergen – department for arts and culture, Fund for Image and Sound and Fund for Performing Artists.