INTERVIEW: ‘Inside the Wild Heart’ expands possibilities of virtual theater
Photo: Inside the Wild Heart is based on a work by Clarice Lispector. Photo courtesy of Erika Morillo / Provided by Kampfire PR with permission.
Clarice Lispector, the well-known 20th-century writer from Brazil, is being celebrated by Group.BR, the only Brazilian theater company operating in New York City. The company is currently presenting a virtual production of Lispector’s Inside the Wild Heart, adapted by Andressa Furletti and Debora Balardini. Linda Wise directs the unconventional theatrical offering.
The play’s unconventionality comes because unlike so many other theatrical offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic, Inside the Wild Heart doesn’t play out on Zoom or a similar online platform. Instead, audience members are able to utilize the gather.town software and navigate through three floors of a virtual environment made to look like a preserved 19th-century space in the heart of Gramercy Park, according to press notes. In this space, there are video performances, photography and audio. The experience is meant to pay homage to Group.BR’s in-person production of the show, which played the Big Apple in 2016 and 2018.
Performances for the virtual offering run through Sunday, Dec. 20. Tickets are $20-$50 for the two-hour show. Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Furletti and Balardini, two of the founders of Group.BR. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audience members expect from this virtual production?
Certainly a unique and new experience. Most online shows are happening through Zoom and YouTube, and it’s all very passive. You sit and watch. Inside the Wild Heart through Gather Town is different because you actively choose what to see and create your own journey. [At] the live show, scenes happen simultaneously; it is not possible to see it all so you have to choose. In the live show, the audience could move from one floor to another. In this online version, the audience moves through virtual space and can watch the videos from the performances and from some installations, see photos, write, draw and even interact with [other] audience members through the chatbox. There is also a virtual bar where audience members can hang out and interact after the performance.
How many different photographs, performances, etc. are on display?
You have three videos from the performance that play simultaneously, four videos from the installations, two videos with photos of the set, one document where people can draw and one where people can write, one text, and 11 pictures. In all, there are 18 [interactive] elements.
Will each audience member have a completely different experience?
Unless they choose to move in space together, which is possible, they will have a different experience depending on their choices.
How difficult was managing the logistics of the show during COVID-19?
Being online was pushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hard to find a platform that would keep the independence of the audience to create their experience. It is a new platform, so people who are less comfortable with technology might have issues at first. But the platform is actually very simple. Past the first moment of finding something new, people find their way easily.
Could you describe the cultural importance of Clarice Lispector?
She is one of Brazil’s most important writers of all time and is considered the most important Jewish writer after Kafka. She is a very universal writer since she talks about central questions for humanity, so anyone can resonate with her.
How does Lispector’s work speak to the difficulties we are facing in 2020?
Oh, a lot. She talks a lot about solitude, violence, love, mental health and compassion. What is interesting about Clarice’s writing is that every time you read you can have a different interpretation, and that interpretation is also very personal. Depending on your day something can hit you in a very different way.
There is a text in the show where she says, ‘This story takes place during a state of emergency and a public calamity. It’s an unfinished book because it’s still waiting for an answer. An answer I hope someone in the world can give me. You?’ The first time we performed this show was around the time of the 2016 election. The second time in 2018 was the election in Brazil and now with the pandemic. The same sentences speak to me in a different way in each performance year.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Inside the Wild Heart, presented by Group.BR, continues virtually through Sunday, Dec. 20. Click here for more information and tickets.
