Bush Moukarzel in Souvenir. Photograph via Brisbane Festival.
Souvenir is based on the world’s longest book written in seven volumes by Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time, also translated from French as Remembrance of Things Past.
Bush Moukarzel – in only one hour – tells the story of personal and social amnesia with help from various writers including T S Elliot, William Shakespeare and Orson Wells. Condensing the longest written work into a 55 minute interpretation.
We are greeted in the space (which is quiet small but every part of the space is filled) with large boxes covered in printed writing telling us what is inside, and in some cases it is the inside of his mind – a large print on a red curtain of Marcel Proust and a chalkboard.
The opening scene is Moukarzel slowing running on a treadmill in a tracksuit. This play is not just Moukarzel reciting from the book and standing facing the audience like he is giving a speech. He physically and emotionally changes his movements, thoughts, clothes and props to compliment what the writer has written.
From the very beginning Moukarzel had the audience captivated. In some parts audience members were invited to say a few words or hand him a prop.
The script and physical movements from the volumes were obviously cut short but the story flowed easily for him (although the preparation for this production may have involved reading every volume).
The beginning of the piece was very physical, the middle although no real plot as such the story linked together leaving the audience to ponder, the ending was very unique taking the audience to another ‘space’.
Souvenir used the little space effectively, with the help of the props and movements by Moukarzel, this assisted members of the audience who may have gotten confused by the story.
Moukarzel became so emotionally engaged in each character that you soon thought he had written the novel, not Proust.
Dead Centre has won an Off Broadway Theatre Award (OBIE) – two more productions for the Brisbane Festival will be shown in the coming weeks Lippy and Chekov’s First Play.
Souvenir shows that this is a company that knows how to twist traditional theatre on its head.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Souvenir
Dead Centre (Ireland)
Written by Bush Moukarzel after Marcel Proust
Directed by Ben Kidd
Cast Bush Moukarzel
Brisbane Festival
La Boite Studio
6-10 September 2016
