Laterna Magika

12 November 2007

The Wonderful Circus

This venue, completed in 1983, provided my first taste of Black Light Theater. I had no idea what to expect out of this show, other than black lights, or if I would have trouble understanding the dialogue like I did with Früling Erwachen. All I really knew is that my curiosity was spiked by this building skinned half in glass block and half in glass. Who puts a glass block building next to the Narodni Divadlo in the first place? I went inside and discovered that the same person that puts glass block on the outside puts marble, wood accents and indescribable lighting fixture through the center of the staircase. This light sucks you up the stairs immediately to the actual lobby and coat check, where you linger until climbing up the second flight to the theater. The actual theater space is full of carpeting, giving it the feel of a movie theater almost immediately. Mostly empty heavily padded seats, better than any movie theater I have been to, filled the house around the small thrust stage. It was a very intimate space overall, even the use of film is unable to push the audience away. The show took advantage of the film media (with projectors that looked 50 years old) by mixing it with moody music and having the actors interact with it.