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Next Door
BE Festival
Birmingham Rep Studio
***** Birmingham’s BE Festival is a ten
day-long celebration of international theatre hosted by The REP and it
kicked off perfectly with a performance of 2013’s winning show, Next
Door by Danish theatre company Out of Balanz This winning show highlights the power of culture
and was a great start to BE Festival 2014 as Birmingham starts to
celebrate its unique plethora of culture and diversity. Hailing from Lecoq School and now based in
Copenhagen, Out of Balanz are an impeccable company of two performers,
Ivan Hansen from Denmark and Pekka Raikkonen from Finland, along with
director Katrina Bugaj. This dynamic duo celebrate culture throughout
their performance, which allows us to see an abundance of life and joy
given to us as individuals, but also challenges us to constantly learn
more from others around us. After the death of Ivan’s neighbour, a person he
thought he knew, he discoveredt he didn’t know about his neighbour at
all. It was this realisation that inspired Hansen and gave way to the
idea of looking into the relationships of strangers and those from
different cultures. This soon then became Next Door. This show is a glorious display of fun and humour,
bridging the gap of peace to the topic of war. Out of Balanz take down
the audience’s shyness and worry for those around them. Elements such as
inviting us to make friends with a stranger sitting close by, an
offering of sweets going around the audience whilst the actors perform
and a friendly toast of Danish whiskey post-performance were a
celebratory beacon, bringing down the walls of austerity and caution .
These gestures given so thoughtfully and generously by Hansen and
Raikkonen are the essence of theatre. They brought people together to
celebrate the voice of art. Hansen has a gift for storytelling. His heartfelt
account of his personal past experiences paired with a joyful yearning
to entertain and please the audience makes for a terrific experience.
Raikkonen’s talent of performance and natural stage presence meant that
he was a wonderful and funny visual aid to the show, not to mention an
impeccable comedic mime. This excellent little world screamed fun from
start to finish. Both performers were so at ease with each other and
their beautiful imagination’s that this became infectious to the
audience. There were huge fits of laughter throughout the piece and
every member of the audience walked out of the auditorium with a gleeful
smile. Hansen welcomed us to the story of his past with open arms which
meant that we were all part of this fantastic celebration together. The
stage was open and the lighting was set so that the performers could see
the audience as well as we could see them. Next Door is warming and inviting as well as
giving way to many thoughts that are easy to overlook. An excellent and
charming display of integration and friendship. To 08-07-14 Elizabeth Halpin
02-07-14
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of
Balanz are a beautifully playful company and are the perfect advocate
for devised theatre. With a set of around five cardboard boxes and a
small amount of props, they create a joyful world that is a pleasure to
be a part of. Their imagination is so strong that the audience are
transported to this wonderful world with no intention to face reality
again.