Plasticine

Bergen Prosjektteater is known for its uncompromised in-yer-face theatre and an explicit, penetratingly direct scenic expression. With the play Plasticine they debated issues of current interest.

In Plasticine the audience meets Maxim, a young boy midway into puberty, who has problems becoming comfortable in his body as well as in the society surrounding him. He is a loner, tired of life, he has no real friends and his life lacks direction. He seeks refugee in playing with plasticine, which he controls and can shape the way he wants to – as opposed to himself. Through this game a young and troubled child’s mind is revealed, one with poor conditions for coping with life, but still filled with creativity and creative powers.

The first time Vassily Sigarëv confronted theatre workers with the Plasticine text, they became physically sick. "I considered this a first victory, a sign that the text moved something inside of them, and I want theatre to move and disturb us," Sigarëv has said.

Bergen Prosjektteater (BPT) is a young, but established actor in the performing arts field in Bergen. Ever since the foundation in 2005 BPT has worked towards the aim to present hard-hitting performing arts. With the staging of Plasticine BPT presents its third Norwegian premiere in a row by internationally acclaimed playwrights.

Thorleif Linhave Bamle in Bergen Prosjektteater writes the following about Plasticine:

"As opposed to our former productions, which have been performed in the small stage of The National Venue of Theatre, we have in Plasticine chosen a far larger format. We have challenged ourselves by selecting a venue which is not originally intended for performing arts, but which provides a unique frame for the performance. The production also is made in a large format and many have contributed to making it possible. To begin with, this may seem impossible for an organisation consisting of two persons. But because of a rich network in Bergen and all the people who have become connected to the project, you will today witness an ever so slight miracle.

Vasilly Sigarëv grew up in the town Verkhnaya Salda in Siberia, a town which prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union was an industrial centre with the only titan mine in Russia. Like so many young people Sigarëv directly experienced the vacuum after the collapse. The young ones began to intoxicate. Sigarëv’s brother ended in jail, his mother fell ill and his father disappeared, like most fathers, into the hell named vodka. Sigarëv, however, managed to get away and he began to write for the stage.

Sigarëv has first-hand experience from the world he describes in his plays. Aged 23, he won the award for the most promising playwright in London with Plasticine. With Plasticine Sigarëv got his international break-through and the play has been performed all over Europe. In a dystopian world in which all kinds of humanism are gone, we follow a young boy’s journey of fate. In the battle between hope, determinism and free will, the 14 year old boy is driven to brutal insight, in which his creative force and inherent potential gives him strength, while it also makes him an outcast. With the same qualities as plasticine the boy is shaped, unshaped and reshaped until he hardens. How do we choose to manage the potential in our children, which opportunities are they given, what are they exposed to, and how do we treat those who fall outside?"

Sources: Performance program and spring program 2009 from BIT Teatergarasjen. 10.08.2010: http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no/article/200