Since my house burned down I now own a better view of the rising moon

70 min, nonverbal

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What would you save from a burning house? How would you cope with a sudden loss of the roof above your head? How boring is it to be a homeless person?

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Homeless man and a demon, two samurai warriors, two clowns, two butoh dancers, two geishas. From a heap of japanese folk tales emerge human beings and other creatures, they move quietly accompanied by sounds of koto and clapping of geta shoes. How many masks you have, that many times you are a human or at least its twisted shadow. Costume changes quick as bokken swing, precise as kata, effective as urea fertilization. Reed grows, hair grows, nails grow…

But a homeless man is like a snail – he carries everything with him, he packs it and disappears without a trace. And since he has no address, we will never find him again.

Since my house burned down I now own a better view of the rising moon is a butoh-clowneria inspired by japanese folk tales.

 

Based around the topic of homelessness and losing material property we see a story of a samurai and his enemy – demon Tengu – how competition and revenge leads one to a desperate state of being. The story is told without words, just through situations, costumes, masks and overall visual dramaturgy.

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In 2023, the performance was supported by the Nová síť z.s. as part of the New Blood on the Scene program. The production was created with the financial support of Motus z.s. - The Alfred Theater in the yard and the Theater Faculty of the AMU.

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Prepared by: Adam Páník, Tereza Havlová, Matěj Šumbera, Veronika Traburová

Thanks to: Pasi Mäkelä, Tomáš Procházka, Robert Smolík

Premiere: 26 May 2021, Alfred in the courtyard, Prague

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Photo: Leevi Toija, Čeněk Folk, Libor Staněk, groups archive