Élizaviéta Bam, the newest production by Les Créations Diving Horse, has returned from a successful tour to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2003. It was also presented at Théatre La Chapelle on the 25th and 26th of January, and from the 21st of March to the 7th of April, 2002. Written by Daniil Harms in 1927, the height of the Russian Totalitarian movement, this play explores the universe of a woman who is haunted by guilt and tormented by malicious characters. These characters represent universal repressive powers - but are they real or part of her imagination?

The rhythmic and explosive performance of Élizaviéta Bam takes the audience into a world where reality and the imaginary overlap. Characters that are at times, strange and moving, evolve in an irrational world. This french production was created through corporal exploration, using director Oleg Kisseliov's method of Creative Impulse. This masterpiece could be considered a "Tragedy of Language".

“Magnificent performances and direction in an electric piece of Russian modernism. A star show on the Fringe …”
    REVIEWS GATE, August 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland   (view entire article)

“4 out of 5 stars ... The fantastic geometric set [moves] the players in and out of dream-like sequences with ease and grace. It will leave you awe-inspired …”
    THE HERALD, August 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland   (view entire article)

“The Russian expatriate Oleg Kisseliov directs the bilingual Canadian ensemble with great charm and inspiration in this production, which resembles a gothic, geometrical dream … Aesthetic accomplishment and pure theatrical feast aside, in the aftermath of yet another new world order-asserting war, [Harms] might just have a point …”
    THE STAGE, August 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland   (view entire article)

“[Élizaviéta Bam] delivers wonderful surrealism, as the passionate enthralling cast move effortlessly through the simple and effective set …”
    THEATREFEST, August 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland   (view entire article)

“I’m in a rehearsal room in Montreal, but it feels like I’m watching a dance that’s all the rage in some distant corner of the solar system …”
   THE LIST, July 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland   (view entire article)

They give it their all these Russian artists. They have the same approach to art as they do to sports. At the end of a performance directed … by Oleg Kisseliov (La Leçon, Songe d'une nuit d'été) the actors are covered in sweat and the audience is left breathless… The results are more visible than ever in this dizzying performance that dives in without any pity into the mind-expanding universe of Daniil Harms… This repressive delirium is as tragic as it is comical, in the end there is little that makes sense, but it leaves you with a feeling that you have participated in a memorable experience. Oleg Kisseliov's set design is a wonderful example of variable geometry. Amazing what you can do with two walls, a column, a set of stairs and some refined lighting - …designed by David Perreault Ninacs. - twenty sets in one…
   LA PRESSE, March 2002, Montreal, Quebec   (view entire article)

An incursion into the troubled thoughts of Élizaviéta Bam that is agreeably disconcerting, pure delirium… The director chose a transformable set (that he designed himself) that they manipulate during scene changes. When the lights go up the audience feels that the visual perspective has changed. Amazing!… Ingenuity added to virtuosity, Gaetan Nadeau and Phoebe Greenberg, a campy couple who could have been a model for David Lynch… With this experience Théatre La Chapelle take a major step for artists who wish to breakout of the norm. The deregulation of the senses is equivalent to the wind announcing that spring has arrived, bringing us back to life…
   LE VOIR, March 2002, Montreal, Quebec    (view entire article)

Upon reading Élizaviéta Bam and other short stories written by Daniil Harms, I was struck by the intensity and the aesthetics of his literary form. His prose and poetry marked by irony and ambiguity unveil the truth yet somehow remain autonomous.

It is not surprising that he became a target of the soviet government of his era, not only because of the contents of his writings but also because of its energy and aesthetic.

During the creative process we explored the following themes: fear, the archetype of the victim, the physical and psychological dynamics between men and women, egoism of the state and the power of human nature.

Élizaviéta Bam invites us to reflect on the feeling of fear, the instinct to survive and the power of the human spirit when faced with the egocentrism of the state.

Élizaviéta Bam - we are all Élizaviéta Bam. Cruel dramas, tragedies, mysteries and miracles cross our cultural jungle, unseen, like the cosmic dust that pierces the depth of the earth without been seen or felt… Nobody I know except actors can slow down even for an instant, the storm raging in their bodies, in their skin. In this moment Élizaviéta Bam is present.

Thanks to this name I have had the good fortune of working with all the people who helped create this show. I am sure that Daniil Harms, looking at us, understands what I am feeling.

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