Ribald fun with puppets and poop at Hotel Modern
The stage is strewn with old boxes. Two bears inspect the contents with great curiosity. They find drills and pumps, skulls and figurines, and they happily play with them. And so it goes on, 80 minutes that make up the performance. Whether Rococo by Hotel Modern should be called ‘theatre’ is a moot point. But first, let us take a look at the high points, at the most noteworthy scenes.
Highpoint number one: playing with the turd. Dressed as a bear, one of the performers produces a turd. Gnomes root around in it together with comical dogs. On the projections on screen one views this activity in extreme close-up. The gnomes turn out te be finger puppets being filmed with mini-cameras. Oh, how they enjoy themselves in that pile of dung.
Highpoint number two: three skulls kiss one another – with tongues. And how do they do this? The performers poke their fingers through holes in the skulls and bring them close to one another, causing much merriment in the auditorium.
Highpoint number three: a penis penetrates a vagina. Ladies look on, with blushing cheeks. This scene also appears magnified on the screen, where one can see that the genitals are plaster sculptures and the ladies are porcelain figurines in rococo style – hence the appealing title. But the title is also pretentious because Rococo doesn’t live up to its name. ‘Rococo’ suggests luscious elegance, beauty in the shadow of death. But what Hotel Modern shows us is neither beautiful nor elegant, the references to death morbidly tasteless rather than philosophical.
It is understandable that this Rotterdam-based company wanted to make something lighter after a series of gloomy productions. The Great War and Kamp dealt, respectively, with the trench war and with Auschwitz, subject of great importance became impressive works of art thanks to the hundreds of handcrafted puppets in their oppresive setting.
With their non-verbal language, Arlène Hoornweg, Pauline Kalker and Herman Helle have also broken through abroad. Their mix of puppetry and animation film, visual arts, mime and music is, of itself, exceptional, but Rococo offers too little depth and too many cheap laughs.
A group that wants to make ‘a proclamation of love to the imagination’, to quote the booklet for the performance, has to do more than mess around, just knocking a few things together. Goof theatre, by definition an ode to the imagination, requires inspiration. Something severely lacking here.
29-12-2007
