A informação relativa ao espectáculo apresentado, pode ser recuperada e consultada aqui
em https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/19/the-unknown-island-gate-theatre-london-review-jose-saramago
"The Unknown Island review – Saramago odyssey asks the audience to dream"
Adapted from José Saramago’s short story, Ellen McDougall’s grownup fairytale draws spectators into a circle of bread, wine and storytelling
"Questioning the old certainties … The Unknown Island. Photograph: Cameron Slater"
"The Gate’s new artistic director, Ellen McDougall, begins her tenure by offering us the essentials of life, sharing bread, wine and storytelling with her audience in this version of Nobel prize-winning writer José Saramago’s short story.
Adapted by McDougall and Clare Slater, it becomes something like a grownup version of Jackanory as we are told of a man who asks the king for a boat so he can find an unknown island. Rosie Elnile’s design wraps the entire Gate space in blue fabric, suggesting both the sea and a dreamworld. As we enter, the only other flash of colour is from a red sailing boat.
McDougall’s previous big hit at this address was Roland Schimmelpfennig’s rewriting of Greek myth, Idomeneus, a play that questioned all the old certainties of an ancient story. She does the same here and with similar playfulness – including plenty of her trademark balloons, used to clever comic effect."
"Unique viewpoint … Zubin Varla. Photograph: Cameron Slate"
"The show challenges us to imagine a new way of living – and to be brave enough to try to seize it. When the king confidently tells the man that all the islands “are on the maps”, the man defies that thinking by pointing out that “only the known islands are on the maps”. He is joined on his quest by the palace’s cleaning woman, who is similarly intent on taking control of her own story.
On the surface, the show looks like the simplest kind of storytelling, but it is smartly conceived, down to the way the audience are seated around the edge of the playing space so they form a community, constantly catching each other’s reactions. The production shares the storytelling between performers Jon Foster, Hannah Ringham, Thalissa Teixeira and Zubin Varla, who may swap characters but always seem to offer their own view of the tale, their voices lapping over each other like the waves of the sea.
And McDougall gives us the chance to own the story, too, inviting the audience to dream their own dreams."
Link de apresentação da peça de teatro
Apresentação da peça de teatro
"What is this unknown island you want to go in search of?
If I could tell you that, it wouldn’t be unknown.
You want to go in search of an unknown island.
Because somewhere out there, there must be something else.
Because you want to find out who you are when you are there.
You ask the king for a boat.
You don’t know where you are going, or even how to sail.
You won’t take no for an answer.
The Unknown Island is a beautiful, inventive and rebellious adventure story about dreaming of the impossible and trying to cross the vast distances between ourselves and each other.
Based on Nobel prize-winning novelist Jose Saramago’s short story, The Tale of the Unknown Island, adapted for the stage by Ellen McDougall and Clare Slater."
"Gate Theatre"
Gate Theatre
11 Pembridge Road
Notting Hill Gate - London W11 3HQ
Box office: 020 7229 0706
