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Wednesday, March 8, 2000
A season of change for Misery Loves Company By Micah Jayne A year ago, after nearly six years of English-language theater in Prague, Misery Loves Company was little more than a name and a modest bank account. Interest in the company had declined following the departure of founding member David Nikl, and most of the others involved had begun to pursue other projects. Enter Daniel Fleischer-Brown, the company's new director, and a fresh group of cohorts dedicated to reviving the ailing project. This second wave of talent has resulted in a renaissance for the group, providing an opportunity to restructure a company with an existing reputation. Fleischer-Brown and bookkeeper Rianne Kooiman huddle over a table in Divadlo Na Zabradli's buzzing cafe. An unavoidable energy floats around them. "So," Fleischer-Brown begins. "What do you need to know? We've got about five minutes." He closes his yearly planner -- already bursting with bits of paper, business cards and receipts -- and glances up with a smile. Their first major change was to leave Divadlo v Celetne, formerly the company's spiritual home and major venue. "There just wasn't room, that was the main thing," Fleischer-Brown explains. Their new stage at Divadlo U Andelu, to be shared with an eponymous Czech company, is currently undergoing renovation. "I didn't come to Prague to do theater initially," Fleischer-Brown says. After teaching at Cambridge, he came here to finish his dissertation and relax with his family. As he fields the first of the afternoon's flood of calls, Kooiman takes the opportunity to present her take on the rebirth of the company. "We took the name and restarted the company," she says. "Theater is a medium of communication, perhaps the first medium of communication, and it seems reasonable, especially in another country, to find a universal means of communicating. We found that we were all speaking the same language." Ironically, Kooiman hopes to establish her specialty, nonverbal performance, as a mainstay of the group's new agenda. Meanwhile, Fleischer-Brown has returned and is nodding at what she says. "The stuff that makes people feel that a piece is truly alive is primarily extratextual," he says, but stresses that Misery will be more than a mime act -- most of their other projects for the coming year will be verbal, though not necessarily traditional. Space in the chaos Although they plan to continue forging a unique style, both agree that the main thrust of the season will be to establish a good home and build a solid, reputable touring company. "We plan to host as many traveling troupes as space will allow once we're moved in at U Andelu," says Fleischer-Brown, who fondly recalls his days with a roaming company in North America. Fleischer-Brown points to this return to a troubadour ethic and a focus on international collaboration -- facilitated by nonverbal work -- as the true direction of contemporary theater. "There's got to be structure, though," he insists. "And movement. We don't want shows to become too abstract or pretentious." They both believe that Prague is the perfect place to pursue these goals. "Everyone is accessible here," Kooiman says. "There isn't the same star culture that dominates American and British performers. Plus, people here go to the theater. It's a much more exciting environment to work in." Fleischer-Brown agrees with her assessment of Prague's energy. "There's an awful lot of chaos here too, but there's a real space in the chaos for creating original work." Three original productions, two major outdoor pieces, participation in Prague's Shakespeare festival, and a move to an uncompleted new stage: it all adds up to quite a bit of work for Misery Loves Company. Fleischer-Brown's mobile phone begins to ring again and some minor explosion has disorganized his organizer. He smiles apologetically. "Maybe we're doing too much, but it's important. There's so much momentum. We can't drop the ball now." By Micah Jayne can be reached at features@praguepost.cz |
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