Fool’s Epitaph

What did actors in Elizabethan times have to do to attract and retain the attention of a theatre-goer who was ready to throw a stone at a performer deemed to be rather boring? Apart from speeches of texts, what theatrical strategies could be used to transmit a more complicated content to an audience desirous of entertainment? What would happen if a clown were to set about producing Shakespeare’s plays? “Fool’s Epitaph” is a show using techniques of movement theatre, visual theatre and contemporary circus, inspired by motifs from Shakespeare’s plays and, in particular, by the figure of a Shakespearean clown. Basing on what is “between the text”, the KEJOS Collective tells a new tale stretched between eternal problems and contemporaneity. The show reveals the effects of an artistic experiment testing the relations between theatre and modern circus.

The KEJOS Collective is a group of artists who concentrate in their work on exploiting circus techniques as a means of expression equal to other performance forms, such as theatre, dance, music or multimedia. In contrast to traditional circus, the Collective’s shows constitute not only a series of tricks but also a consistent artistic expression.

Epitafium Błazna from Kejos Production on Vimeo.

directing, script, concept: Kolektyw KEJOS, Marta Kuczyńska, Jacek Timingeriu
scenography: Barbara Szymczak
costumes: Olga Rudzińska
technical assistant: Ewa Timingeriu
tailor’s assistant: Maria Zając
premiere: 26.11.2020, 24th Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival

cast: Marta Kuczyńska, Jacek Timingeriu, Zuzanna Nir, Youri Gregoire / Krzysztof Kostera, Adam Banach