Wierszalin Theatre of Poland returns with a version of the Arthurian legend performed in their characteristic style. Events are enacted primarily through miniature figures on a table-top, while the main antagonists, Merlin and Viviana, look on, pray and conduct snatches of the Latin liturgy; the climactic battle is accompanied by repeated chanting of the Dies irae. The sense of a greater dimension to earthly occurrence is given visible form as the company become spectators around the table on which knights quest and combat. The overall effect is sometimes opaque, but it carries surprising metaphorical weight.
Written for The Independent.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.
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