[MEL] European House 24/10 to 27/10

peter_j

Teatre Lliure
European House
Hamlet's Prologue without Words
24th to 27th of October
Part of the Melbourne Festival - sessions selling out.
http://www.melbournefestival.com.au/2007_program/production?id=2944

One of Spain’s leading theatre companies, Teatre Lliure, makes its Australian debut with European House. Subtitled Hamlet’s Prologue without Words, European House offers an original, contemporary vision of what might lead a modern-day Hamlet to his end.

On stage is the cross-section of a three-story house owned by a well-to-do European family. A prominent businessman has just died and his widow (Gertrude) and son (Hamlet) return home after the funeral to receive family and friends wishing to pay their respects. Gesture and expression are the language of the action, with subtitles used to speculate or reflect on what is unfolding inside the house. Stories are shared, secrets are revealed and it becomes obvious that, for all the family’s wealth and social standing, they cannot avoid death and human betrayal.

Barcelona-based Teatre Lliure was set up in 1976 by a group of theatre professionals working in independent theatre. Since then, and particularly under director Àlex Rigola, it has become renowned for its emphasis on text-based theatre, which involves the re-working of classic texts as well as the promotion of contemporary dramatists and seasons in which theatre alternates with dance and music.

European House is an emotional and amusing reflection in real time on family, communication, contemporary society, life and death. The clever staging puts the audience in the position of voyeur, looking behind the plot at one possible prologue to William Shakespeare’s best-known work.