“Forces of nature”, poetic hike with Ivana Müller

It all starts with the arrival of the characters, three men and two women. They are hooked to each other with ropes and carabiners. They talk about everything and nothing, their opinions, tell each other stories. From the outset, each reveals its own uniqueness. More or less dreamy, cynical, ironic or imposing, they together form a balance that their movements on stage reflect.

As they speak, they unroll colored cords which they lay out in a grid pattern on the ground. They then tie them where they cross. A bar is suspended in the air: when one of the characters begins to hang the structure placed on the ground on it, a mountain of threads will rise, hoisted by a rope that they will all pull together.

The mountain is a visual effect but also a central element of the diegesis. The spectator indeed understands that it is a journey as they move forward and evolve on stage: suddenly, one of them lets out a cry and declares that he cannot continue because he has hurt himself. With their bonds, they form a stretcher because they refuse to abandon it. They weave their way into the structure like into caves and underground galleries. Little by little the landscape of a very symbolic universe is revealed where simple threads of color form a mountain, itself a common place of philosophical and spiritual reflection.

“The piece is a reflection on interdependence and on group movements, physical and social or political”

In barely an hour, the protagonists move forward, unite; they create a space-time where movement is a necessity. One of them tells us about his conceptions of immobility. For him, it is a symbol of the withering away, of the corruption of being. You always have to be on the move to maintain a form of stability and evolution is necessary. In forces of nature, it is a vital and building movement. We reach the top of the mountain, the one for which we sometimes risk getting lost.

The development of the characters is slow and laborious. They let us savor some humorous lines. They are always obliged to situate themselves in relation to each other: indeed, their movements and their conversation are a constant play of balances. Curiously, there are no power relations. The care given to the other and the group are a priority, without that annihilating the individuality of each one. The community represented by Ivana Müller is almost utopian. The two characters who threaten to break this bond do so out of fear, but are quickly reinstated; they find their place with a lot of warmth and softness.

This show is of great humility and touching accuracy. The forces of nature are the ones that drive us to explore and climb. They are also those who reinvent and balance themselves with the group. The five protagonists find each other and blend into their environment, they become one on stage with the world they have created.

Visual: Poster of the Latitudes contemporaines festival.