Paradize
Paradize | Premiere: 2010, Clipa Theater, Tel-Aviv
“There is good theater, there is wonderful theater and there is Clipa Theater.
There is theater you write reviews about and there is theater you write a thank you letter to.
Thank you… thank you for making my cheeks hurt from laughter.”
Yuval Ben-Ami, Israel Today
The extravagant spectacle “Paradize”, based on the story of the Garden of Eden, would have swept you off your feet and taken you to a miraculous world of biblical fantasy – if only you could see it. But you are sitting backstage.
Behind the scenes you will experience the suspense of a quick costume change, maneuvering complex backdrops, the anxiety of actors, power struggles, life-size cardboard animals, excitement and despair, extension cables, secret desires and private lives, who are turned in the duration of one show to an exquisite farce of reality-show culture.
“Paradize” is a wild physical comedy that tells the story of a theatre company during a run of their show. The director plays the part of God, and is married to Eve, Adam is a spoiled diva and the snake a beginning actor. When the backstage technician carries out his cunning plot to takeover one of the lead roles on stage, their lives are thrown into utter chaos – but the show must go on.
Clipa Theater is best known for its large-scale productions, filled with rich visual imagery. But does the audience know what’s happening behind the scenes? What’s required to operate the mechanisms of fantasy? The idea was conceived in the backstage of one of our productions, when it seemed that the complex technical aspects of the show became a sort of choreography of its own, and the relations between the actors – the drama.
On stage you’ll see the actors in two roles. They are the characters in a show about the story of creation (which we can only imagine, being performed on the “actual stage”). But also, we meet them in their natural habitat, and are able to watch them out of the spotlight. The merger between the fantastical show and the realism shown backstage, along with a tense, dramatic story-line, leads to endless hilarious moments.
Created by the Clipa ensemble, in cooperation with Masha Namirovski
Performers: Idit Herman, Artour Astman, Fyodor Makarov, Oded Zadok, Amit Bar-Am, Rafael K. Haugas | Dramaturgy: Masha Namirovski | Set Design: Dmitry Tyulpanov | Costume Design: Idit Herman | Lighting Design: Uri Morag
Press (Hebrew)
Review by Eitan Bar Yosef, City Mouse
For an English review: Mindnight East
Duration: 60 Minutes