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A million stories in silence
Floriana Frassetto and Bernie Schurch of Mummenschanz — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
SILENCE. NOT a word on stage. And yet, they have a thousand stories to tell. Peppered with a million colours, a zillion movements, they trigger your imagination. Create your own stories, produce your own music, and break the shackles of manmade boundaries.
Watch out for "Mummenschanz Next," a 75-minute pantomime by the Swiss group, Mummenschanz. Thirty-three summers ago, Bernie Schuerch, Andreas Bosshard, and Floriana Frassetto teamed up to create Mummenschanz. And their goal — "to stage a play without words or linguistic and cultural borders."
Without doubt, they stuck to their goal, scoring hits all across the globe. And after a stint in India in 1991, the group is back to entertain crowds in the city and free their minds.
Mummenschanz Next is a pantomime and much more. Ask Floriana to explain and she says: "It is a non-verbal, visual theatre; a poetic art form. It is an interactive and playful presentation without music."
Masks as a medium
But how do they mange to evoke the myriad emotions? Pat comes the reply: "Through masks, the four artistes on stage, and a technical director. The mask is the medium here. Facial, half-body and full-body masks combine to complete the picture. While some act as puppets, others work through human forms."
Bernie chips in about the stories. "The stories are so simple that anyone between the ages of four and 94 can feel and understand them."
The stories are not told, but left to the audience to imagine and interpret. "Each individual has the freedom of interpreting the story his way. The audience completes the picture through associations. They scream, laugh, and pass through various moods during the show," explains Bernie.
Shaking off inhibitions
Mummenschanz is not children's theatre, "but children feel at ease here. They make comments aloud, shaking the adults out of their inhibitions. We want the child within the adult to come out and participate," says Floriana.
Bernie Schurch trained as an actor in Berne before moving to the Lecoq School in Paris. Since 1969, he toured in various clown/theatre shows with his fellow student, Andreas Bosshard, before forming Mummenschanz in 1972.
Floriana Frassetto studied at the Academia Alessandro Fersen and the School of Pantomime in Rome. She gained her experience on stage, touring with the pantomime group "I Gesti."
The Denmark-born Jakob Bentsen had his education at the Lecoq School, Paris. He has been working with Mummenschanz since 1978. He continues to work as an actor in the silent as well as in the spoken theatre, and as a puppeteer and director.
Italian artiste Raffaella Mattioli had her classical dance education in Rome and London with Yuriko, Pearl Lang, Mary Hinkson, Noemi Lapzon, and others.
She has performed as a dancer and actor in a number of productions. In 1989, she went to Prague as a choreographer to Laterna Magica. The technical director, Ueli Riegg, had an interest for theatre at an early stage.
Starting out as an actor, he specialised in stage management and light design. Before joining Mummenschanz, he worked as a freelance technical director at the City Theatre of St. Gallen.
India tour
The show in Bangalore is part of the group's "India Tour 2005" and is presented by The Teamwork Fine Arts Society, Embassy of Switzerland, New Delhi, and The Consulate General of Switzerland, Mumbai.
Make sure that you're strapped into your seats as the curtains go up at Chowdiah Memorial Hall at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday.
By Rasheed Kappan
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
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