“Puppet. The Book of Splendour”, the last premiere of Nettheatre was inspired by the works of Tadeusz Kantor and Kabbalah. From the world of Kantor’s plays emerges the subject of death, or, to be more precise, the sphere of death, as the author calls it. It is joined by an unexpected companion – childhood. The latter is perceived not only as the historical time, an element of the past, but most importantly, the way a human being can approach the world. We can be affirmative and naïve towards it. We can live in two worlds at the same time – the imaginary and the real. We can create the world around us, we can feel joy or fear, euphoria or misery. All of those stages are momentary and unavoidable. The vibrating world of puppets, golems and mannequins is confronted with the world seen through the eyes of the masters of Kabbalah.
Quoted in the title and in the script is Splendor or Radiance (Sefer ha-Zohar), one of the most important texts of Jewish mysticism, which in Europe is perceived mainly through the through the prism of Kabbalah. This incredibly beautiful text is a lesson about how to read the world written in the form of a parable. From the perspective of a mystic, the world is a space, in which God communicates with a human being. People and objects surrounding us, everything that happens to us, both on a local and global scale, they all create the space for God’s conversation with humans.
Actors invited to take part in the performance represent various theatre competences. What they have in common, what makes them stand out in the theatre environment, is their previous experience with working on performances that attempt to deal with the subject of transcendence and the journey towards the limits of human abilities. The final effect is enhanced with live music and characteristic for neTTheatre visual effects.