The Review – YES! (maybe)
Switzerland is represented at the Encounter festival by the Bern University of the Arts. This time with their own production, YES! (maybe) directed by Johannes Mager. The authors of the play themselves, Jeanne le Moign, Millie Vikanis and Marc Scheufen, appear on stage.
The production can be divided into three parts. In the first third, we follow a monodrama of an artist longing for praise and success. Marc Scheufen, who portrays this character, interweaves the monologue with a great deal of pathos, sometimes beyond embarrassment. This only highlights the question that hangs in the air. Namely, how far can an artist go with his ego at the expense of truthfulness, believability? Can he still be himself and at the same time receive the desired applause? In the first part, these questions are raised not only verbally, but also as a sign of the actor’s gradual disrobement. Each time he throws in another piece of clothing, he gets more praise, which is however superficial and flat.
The already mentioned question of credibility is reflected in the constant disruption of the third wall. Right at the beginning, the character of the artist admits that he knows that he is performing for the festival. In the process, he asks the “viewers” a question and immediately adds that they can’t actually answer him, because they are behind the glass of the screen. This element successfully reduces the gap between viewers and actors, which is caused by the online form.
In the second part, in which Jeanne le Moign excels, the question of ego and trueness of one’s own nature changes into consideration whether and how it is possible to convey something to the viewer, but at the same time not to reveal oneself to the bone. The authors wonder whether a change of perspective, a certain overview, will help, which is shown in the production by a literal climbing of the character played by le Moign above the stage. During this image, the character always plays with the same statement, only always utters it in a different way. She shows how important the difference is in form, even if it is the same content. It thus develops the above-mentioned consideration of the contribution from the actor to the viewer and vice versa.
The third, final part could be summarized by the statement by Jan Fabre, which is also used in the production: “The year is 2020 AD and we still live in the Middle Ages.” The authors thus hint at the pressure of society to pretend to believe in values that we may secretly doubt. This part of the production is best readable and most specific. Repetitive unanimous singing together with the repetition of the same movements and pouring of blood over oneself creates the impression of a medieval mass. At the same time, it is a metaphor for repeating unnecessarily difficult patterns of behaviour when it might be easier to do otherwise.
The spectator cannot be sure for a moment whether all the questions raised are related to the creation of art or to life as such. The border is perfectly blurred. After all, the whole world is a stage and all the people on it are merely players.
Tereza Krejčová (SLU)