Egon Schiele – Self Portrait

Эгон Шиле. Автопортрет

No place inspired Egon Schiele more than Český Krumlov, a stunning architectural gem and one of Europe’s most beautiful historic towns. Familiar with the town from childhood holidays, Schiele moved there after leaving the Vienna Academy to develop his distinctive style. Staged in the exceptional revolving theatre in the baroque gardens of Český Krumlov, this performance by choreographer Jan Kodet honours the life and work of the great painter. Choreography, set and costume design take inspiration from the themes and colours of Schiele’s paintings, to great effect. Glimpses of Schiele’s life flash before the audience as the auditorium revolves around the action: “The audience sits on a moving carousel, in front of which various moments and fragments of memories appear, only to be taken away from them again – like unfinished lines where the mood permeates the senses but is hard to name. What binds the narrative is not story or chronology, but the poignant confession of the feelings of a lifetime” (Dance Context).

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Actors

Zdeněk Mládek

South Bohemian Theatre´s Ballet

Crew

Music by

Petr Kaláb

Libretto, Choreography

Jan Kodet

Libretto, Stage Directors

SKUTR (Martin Kukučka & Lukáš Trpišovský

Stage design

Martin Chocholoušek

Costume designer

Simona Rybáková

About

The production team, led by choreographer Jan Kodet, has prepared a dance theatre performance for the Revolving Auditorium, inspired by details from Egon Schiele’s paintings and drawings – long arms, piercing eyes, erotic facial expressions, dynamic gestures – and also by the words of his poems and letters. The audience will witness the return of Egon Schiele’s spirit to the castle gardens in the figure of a man looking at himself in the mirror, as in a photograph taken in his studio in 1915. The X-ray gaze of the genius, who was ahead of his time and who tried to free the human spirit, overcome the limits of morality and merge with nature, penetrates deep under the skin of his models. It is as if he were exploring the boundary between life and death. And we can see a beautiful free man full of love and sexual desire. We can see his muscles, his bones, his silhouette. We can see the pulsating line of life. We can see a young man, a house, a mirror and nature in a impetuous avidity before his untimely death. We can see Egon Schiele and our attempt at his self-portrait.

Let us enter the world behind the mirror in a dance project that combines sound, light, stage and movement.

"May, June, July, August, September, October, I want to see something new and I want to explore it, I want to savour the dark water, to see the trees crackling in the wild wind, to gaze in wonder at the rotten fruit of the gardens, to listen to the young birch groves and the quivering leaves, to see the light, the sun, to enjoy the wet green-blue valleys in the evening, to feel the glitter of the golden fish, to watch the white clouds gathering, to talk to the flowers, the grass, to watch the people and their healthy colour, to listen to the noble speech of old churches with little domes, and to run without ceasing across the broad plains to the mountains, I want to kiss the earth and absorb the warm soft scent of the oxeye daisies; then I shall make beautiful coloured paintings.“

Egon Schiele to Anton Peschka, a letter, 1910