Strangely compelling and whimsical, carving out far deeper concepts from the wood working process
The highly anticipated Manipulate festival, which ran from the 4th to the 10th of February, is known for its awesome array of boundary-pushing works. The evenings of the 9th and 10th saw the performance of ‘Wood Paths’ by director Andrejs Jarovojs at the Traverse Theatre.
Wood Paths is definitely not a traditional theatre experience. This becomes more
understandable with a little research into Jarovojs’s directorial past, where his works are
noted for their conceptual experimentation and innovative contemporary forms and
expression. In this sense, Wood Paths delivers. It strays far more into the territory of
performance art, and with this in mind, this intriguing performance may be far better
understood and enjoyed. If you are delighted with having a more unusual theatre
experience, then this may be one for you.
The stage is minimalistic, open. Real, big, wooden tree trunks appear. Pallets, tools and
axes waiting to be used. The stage is a woodshop or an imagined forested landscape,
potentially, more aptly, a place of possibilities. Everything suggests that things are to be
done or made, or perhaps this is just our human instinct, and perhaps that is exactly the
point. The show is non-verbal, and also had no sound effects or music, which actually
worked incredibly well, as all sounds were made by the actors and tools. The performers
were Rūdolfs Gediņš, Edgars Samītis, and they worked together chopping, fashioning and creating with the available material. Their performance was impressive mainly because of their physicality, since they were strenuously working or moving for most of the hour and twenty minutes. They worked well together, very in-tuned with the others practice, making rhythm and symmetry a central focus of the experience. A humorous and suspenseful addition to the side of the stage was a large printer that acted as the only form of delayed dialogue between the men. This, too, is minimal and poetic in nature.
Jarovojs seemed to dig into the notion of endurance, both obviously and subtly, and at
the expense of both performers and the audience. This performance is concerned with
process and less so with result, unless the result is just a word for a temporary pause. There is genius in the creation of a piece that can pull on so many threads without being explicitour associations with masculinity, evolution of human creativity and technology, environmentalism, skill vs time. The way the arc of the show was kept fluid and unexpected, starting with a well know concept and ending somewhere far more whimsical yet socially relevant, was delightful and quite touching. It is definitely a piece to be experienced rather than explained. I think its strength lies in how it leaves you questioning and weather that is good or bad can be up to you. Give it a watch!