Chronicle by Andra Bireescu
What is the truth? What are the sources of knowledge? Is reality the equivalent of the truth? What is the existence? Is the enemy of the truth the lie or the individual who refuses to understand and investigate? The Mountain (created by the company Agrupación Señor Serrano) is a show meant to jovially attack us with such questions and thoughts.
The perspectives it brings up are disturbing, take our breath away and make us believe that we are looking at the world around us from a void, from a dense fog that does not allow us to see beyond the immediate reality. For 70 minutes we witness the fabrication of the truth, sprinkled with philosophical intuitions, humour, using: the letters of a loving wife to her husband, George Mallory, on his way to the top of Everest; a radio show, The War of the Worlds, by Orson Welles, about alien invasions; a hungry and horny Putin; combinations of technology and acting, and last but not least, an audience that is called to reconsider its ignorance.
We are, once again, faced with the statement “I know that I know nothing”. How brave are we to recognize the limits imposed by our cognitive or emotional limits? How far are we prepared to fight for the truth, no matter how badly we want to? And then... for this: “what kind of truth do you expect to find up there?” We reflect on the meaning of the mountain and reconfirm that, in fact, the questions give us more answers about reality (or truth) than the answers themselves.
The Mountain is not only a theatre show, it is not necessarily serious, and you should not take our word for it.
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“Ph[r]ases”- Creative Formulas is a programme conceived by Diana Katharina and Daniela Șilindean together with the team of the German State Theatre Timișoara, dedicated to the theatre chronicle within the Eurothalia 2023 European Theatre Festival, held between 20-30 September 2023, financed by the National Cultural Program Timișoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023.
