THE MEHEDAHA THEATER (duplicate)

The Mehedaha Theater was established in 1985 among a group of friends of artists, whose artistic experiments spontaneously turned into puppet performances. At the heart of the performances are visual and musical creations, occasionally made in flats, at vernissages, at various meetings, and in theaters. The most common productions were ballets, dances, sketches and minor absurdities.The theater didn’t have programs or scripts.

For each performance, I recruited new collaborators at random. The ensemble collaborates with many individuals and musicians. It is a kind of concentrated happening, always based on the current situation. The puppets are either our own creations or whatever is implemented from the ever-expanding inventory of toys, stuffed animals, machines, and various refuse, but also including a number of classical puppets. The marrionette style of puppet is the most often used, but recently, the form of the classic “watch” [sic] gains in performance with masks, disguises, objects and shadows.

The Mehedaha Theater does not specifically tell stories. It presents one endless story of revelation and disappearance. Playing with everything, the only scenographer is the world. Things are thus disconnected from their established relationships, and stand apart as their own phantoms, with associations of what they remind us. None of those dances or games have any other motive than just a playfulness. It’s a completely free improvisation, counting on an active viewer. Even the actors themselves are actually viewers, watching and reacting to the game.

The Mehedaha Theater is an experimental laboratory for mixing the most controversial elements. It does not create art-like illusional decorations (with some exceptions), playing directly with water, ice, snow, fire, sand and grass. The only constant of the Mehedaha ensemble is the permanence of its two flat theaters, regularly organizing their meetings.