A video installation

We were asked to stage a short play by a relatively new author as part of a festival that celebrates new plays. Since we have very little interest in staging straight plays, we decided to stage the short play as a video piece.

We set up a shooting stage in the rehearsal room. The 3 performers plus the author sat on chairs in a semi-circle. A separate video camera was pointed at each one of them in close-up. The author was asked to conduct a live reading of the play and to instruct and correct the performers in their delivery of the text. The performers, who never worked on the text before, were asked to act it out following the author’s instruction. We concentrated mainly on the text; very few physical actions were performed. The reading, from start to end, was videotaped without a break; the director gave few instructions to the participants off-camera.

Video editing: after viewing the tapes, we decided to show them the way they are with hardly any manipulation or cuts. We made a few loops and added one short piece of music; otherwise, we left the material the way it was filmed. In other words, the video piece is an accurate documentation of the first reading of the play conducted by its author.

With: Elisabeth Prohaska, Daniel Aschwanden, Berenice Pahl, Georg Aichinger; Margarete Affenzeller, Wolfgang Kralicek, Peter Jarolin, Larry Lash, Karin Cerny, Petra Rathmanner, Ronald Pohl
Moderation: Gabrielle Cram
Concept by Yosi Wanunu
Produced by Kornelia Kilga