MATTI BRAUN (EDITION I)
The Alien, 2005
After two sketches of certain scenes of Matti Braun’s 'The Alien', successively presented in Utrecht, 's-Hertogenbosch and Leiden the complete play has been staged.
Departing from a script written in 1963 by the illustrious Indian film director Satyajit Ray, who never succeeded in producing it as a film, Matti Braun wrote an adaptation of 'The Alien' for theatre. He introduces us to the extra-terrestrial being, 'The Alien', who with his spaceship crash lands in a pond in the Indian countryside. Though many of us in general lines might recognize the story, for there are rumours that Steven Spielberg was profoundly inspired by this script for his famous film 'E.T.'.
'The Alien' befriends a local boy, Haba, who is a bit of a rascal living in the near-by village. The alien is a generous trickster too who causes the crops of the local farmers to ripen and the lotuses in the pond to open. This confounds and confuses the local population and leads to many speculations. As is the case for the villagers, who in line with their mythological and religious beliefs, anxious but also hopeful, ask themselves if these tidings predict a better harvest. A young journalist, Mohan, that has come to research contemporary village life and spends what should be his romantic honeymoon researching rural life in India much to his new wife's distaste, is fascinated by the news which feeds his expectations of science.
The village is in the throws of other technological developments also, namely the drilling of a new water pump by a brash foreign engineer who quickly involves himself in the village life. The local entrepreneur responsible for these technological advances, tries to turn the mysterious crash landing to his advantage, interpreting the space ship as a temple that should be restored and exploited as a place for worship. And so the 'The Alien' fairytale quietly poses questions about modernism, alienation and progress that are as relevant for now as then. Read more
The Alien - Matti Braun
Concept
Matti Braun
Choreography
Henrietta Hale
Music Composition
Li Chuan Chong
Kantele Players
Anna-Karin Korhonen
Actors
Beth Healy - The Alien, Mees Jongema - Haba, the boy, Joris Link - Mohan, the journalist, Nathalie Zonnenberg - Kalyani, Mohan's wife, Felix Janssens - Devlin, the engineer, Roos Gortzak - Bajoria, the entrepreneur, Lily van Ginniken - Haba's grandmother, Astrid Schumacher - Sarkar, the homeopath, Joris Brouwers - Govinda, the peasant, Zhana Ivanova - Pramanick, the postmaster, Sander Meijers - Battacharji, the Hindu priest, Jelle Bouwhuis - Biswas, the Christian priest, Jo'o Guerreiro - the Sadhu.
Special thanks to
Aileen Healy, Marten Jongema, Sanja Mitrovic, Grant Watson, Boost (Amsterdam), Lloyd Hotel (Amsterdam), Imperium (Leiden), BQ Gallery (Cologne).
'The Alien' is a co-production of The Showroom (London), Project Arts Centre, (Dublin) and If I Can't Dance...
