SEPTEMBER 26, 2018, 7:00 p.m
Szigligeti Studio Hall
| TRAP DOOR THEATRE, CHICAGO – USA

Author: Matei Visniec
Director: Szabó K. István
Translator: Nick Awde
Additional Translation: Daniela Silindean
Adaptation: Szabó K. István and Daniela Silindean
Scenography: Florina Bellinda Vasilatos and Szabó K. István
The music: Ovidiu Iloc and Danny Rockett

Duration of the show: 1 hour 30 minutes

Distribution:

Dennis Bisto
Gary Damico Michael Garvey
Emily Nicholson
Blessed Pilch
Mike Steele
Nicole Wiesner

The Trap Door company chose to stage an expressionist, phantasmagoric story of East European dramaturgy. The band's newest production, "Occidental Express" by Matei Vișniec, is a fast-paced, frenetic production sprinkled with comforting moments of sensitivity, and is also a deep, poetic meditation on themes such as war, borders , identity and native land. During the 90-minute show, seven anonymous people watch the Orient Express train pass by while rehearsing for a gypsy wedding. Their rehearsals abound with dialogue, monologues and songs about American identity, geography and pop culture. The director deftly directs a show where madness and poetry intertwine thanks to the stage performance of an exceptional cast.

Nancy Bishop

Trap Door is staging an expressionistic, phantasmagorical tale of eastern European drama. Their new production, Occidental Express, by Romanian-born playwright Matei Visniec, is a sometimes wacky, often chilling, always poetic meditation on war, borders, homeland and identity. In the course of a fast-moving 90 minutes, seven nameless characters watch the express train passing, heading to Paris (the Orient Express, of course). They rehearse for a gypsy wedding, conduct a hooker and pimp scene, stage a fake beating and a busking, and perform monologues, dialogues and songs about identity, geography and American pop culture. Szabó directs this thinly woven drama skillfully. He has an outstanding cast, who makes the Trap Door stage come alive with poetry and madness.

Nancy Bishop, 3CR third coast review

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