[03/17/04] Elegant Catwalk at Kulturhuset

The Tuesday show with Transiteatret was a sharp and well-directed happening where the combination of theatre as cultural criticism, and theatre as art experience worked out nearly optimally.

How "real" are in reality the media shows that insist on telling us the "true" stories? Are reality-shows basically more "real", and are the actors who "confide freely" in talk shows less staged than when acting on stage? Walk Cat, Walk! asks us to reflect on these subjects. At the same time we are witnessing tightly composed and artistically well-performed entertainment. Transiteatret impressed the audience on the fifth day of the festival.

The play by Tore Vagn Lid discusses 'actors' appearances in media situations that intend to present stories of "the authentic personality". The participants in the play represent celebrities that constantly negotiate with each other and the audience about how their personality truly is, and what is "natural" for them. In this way Lid shows that what we hastily accept as "reality appearance" or "behind the mask interview" is not less deliberate or unintentional as is the "artistic appearance", for example in theatre. Beeing one of the general public's most obvious arenas to show off, the Catwalk has become an important instrument to mark out how calculated personal exposures in media really are: The Art becomes a Catwalk as the Catwalk becomes the Art.

The plot in Walk Cat, Walk! is to put it mildly, untraditional. The stage characters make a series of appearances in front of an observer or interviewer who remains invisible and silent. Through seven different scenes we follow three individual`s self-presentations in talk show- or audition-like situations. The absence of a concrete interviewer makes us more easily aware of the game that is played, the phoney personalities and their desperate attempts to make credible stories. The audience is forced to focus on the actors' lines, body language and patterns of reaction to get a total understanding of the story. One possible conclusion would be that this is basically a study of how unnatural one behaves in TV-shows that actually insist on tracking down what's natural.

Walk Cat, Walk! is a great aesthetic pleasure. Tor Christian Bleikli, Camilla Johannessen and Elisabeth Lahr charmed us in an ultra-precise staging. The lines are synchronised with a kind of "voiceover", and the music that is performed live is adapted by - and sung parallelly by the actors in a kind of "Canon". The music and the singing combined with pompous clips from a Hollywood movie have the effect of enforcing our emotions in a manipulative way. This, together with many other means of expression leaves out any coincidence or extemporization. Walk Cat, Walk! demands full concentration. The varied music commenting on the actors' effort to control their behaviour becomes in itself a theme of reflection; as we are seduced by the art, we are constantly reminded of the conjured nature of art. When it is presented in such a well-composed and refined way as by Transiteatret , this double message is very easy to accept, and it makes Walk Cat, Walk! a clever and important dramatic happening.

(T. Jonas for Ålesund Teatererfestival 2004 )

Ålesund Theater Festival: http://www.aalesund-teaterfestival.no/nyheter/main.php?ID=482