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jom u jednom delu pozornice. Swedenborgove rečenice kreču se u svetlu nad njegovom glavom kao najave vozova, a on se. sanjarskog sporog pokreta. rve (ili ga možda prati?) sa stvorenjem u belom, strašne gumaste glave, sa ogromnim očima postrance. To je samo jedan od nekoliko takvih stvorova koji se šepure po pozomici. Đavo. Moguče demonsko ja. Za Swedenborga su davoli bili prosto ljudi koji su izabrali pakao, a anđeli ljudi koji su izabrali raj. Veči deo pozornice je ogroman beo zabran. Raj kao arena i dečje igralište. U njega najpre ulazi. komično uskomešana. rundava črna zverčica (Diane Wasnak). koją nogom uskovitla sporu oluju belog perja. Anđeli koji se kreču dostojanstveno, igraju se nestašnih igara medu perjem, koji poznaju bol i bes. imaju belu kosu, Ijupke maske, dugę haljine i kruta, tamna krila (autor Mel Carpenter). Njih prate dečji glasovi koji poju i pevaju na nekom nepoznatom jeziku i puštaju druge blago neskladne zvuke. Dok se Swedenborg nadmeče sa svojim davolom, andeo-novajlija dobija krila, dok drugi, koji je naterao trečeg da se tuče. ostaje podsečenih krila u svečanom i rečitom obredu. Na kraju, jedan andeo ulazi u Swedenborgovu kancelariju i odvodi ga u perjani svet. Zvučni fon i nasvetu prekrasno su projektovali Blu (nasveta). Jan Hartley (audio-vizuelni dizajn). Brian Hallas (ton-majstor). Mel Carpenter (kostimi) i Chong i John Fleming (režija i koreografija). □ The Village Voice, 11. novembar 1988. Deborah Jowitt

BAM-ov festival sledečeg talasa ...u BAM-u se predstavio Ping Chong, pozorišni veštac. sa svojom družinom Fiji Theater i izveo Svedenborgove anđele. Anđeli govore o životu i prividenjima osavremenjenog Swedenborga, koji u strogom odelu izlazi iz svoje bele plastične kancelarije sa Strane pozornice i opisuje nam svoj život. Ima. kaže Saab, dva Sony vokmena. putnu espresso mašinu i Sunbeamov uredaj za sušenje veša. a pretplačen je na Scientific American. Medutim. kao i kod pravog Emanuela Swedenborga. dogodilo se nešto što je poremetilo laj udoban život. Iza njega na ekranu stalno se vrti ci-

tat iz Swedenborga: Gospod je milostivo otvorio oči moga duha. Uzdigao me je u raj i spustio me u pakao i pokazao mi naočigled kako izgledaju. Ostatak komada bavi se tim prividanjima. U drvenom zabranu punom perja, koji zauzima skoro čitavu pozomicu. grupa andela igra male nebeške drame, a u tome ih povremeno ometaju lukave opaskę (Imaš dinar? Je T igraš?) ogromnog zelenog davola u biskupskoj mitri. Ti nebeški stanovnici povremeno stupaju u vezu sa Swedenborgom: dolaze mu u kancelariju i uvlače ga u svoje baletske vežbe ili se igraju daljinskim upravljačem na njegovom televizoru. Medutim. dobar deo tog swedenborškog materijala je slabašni kliše i kao da Chonga naročilo ne zanima. Njegovo zanimanje i njegov genije zauzeti su pre svega samim vizijama. Chong - vizionar nema premca u našem pozorištu. Njegova su prividenja moderno opora, sa blagom naznakom ironije, pa su tako. po zakonu protivteže, prepuna uverljive sreče ili užasa. Njegovi andeli, obučeni u elegantnu šivu odeču. originalno oblikovanih krila i lica sakrivenih porculanskobelim maskama, prolaze kroz iskušenja izdaleka nalik na ljudska. Novi andeo prolazi inicijaciju i dobija krila. Drugi pada u nemilost, pa mu/ joj (bespolni su) podsecaju krila. Izmedu toga, zajedno igraju na lak, neusiljen. nenaglašen način. (U jednom trenutku, odeveni u narandžaste keceljice. ulaze iza kulisa jedan po jedan kao Petipaove Senke.) Pustolovine im nisu jedinstvene i nikud ne vode. ali tako verovatno izgleda večnost, a ta su stvorenja dovoljno zabavna i lepa da nas povuku u svoje bezuzročno carstvo, a da se mi ne pobunimo. Poslednjih nekoliko godina Chong nije dostigao svoju sjajnu. oštru Belu noč (Nuit blanche. 1980). ali ništa što on radi nije bez sjaja. On je čudan umetnik. Hladnoči osemdesetih ironiji, pop-kulturi. tehnološkom vatrometu - pridružio se vrelinom šezdesetih - moralnom strašču. vizionarskem silovitošču. On je vidovnjak u post-halucinantnom vremenu, pa i njegove vizije poseduju ohrabrujuču jasnoču kao kičmu pod krilima. □ Ballet International, Njujork. maj 1987, Joan Acocella

The Angels of Swedenborg I imagine that all of us wonder at one or many times what it would be like to go to heaven. Surprised or disappointed, Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th century scientist and philosopher, was one of the remarkable few who was privileged to make this journey. He experienced extensive visions that allowed him to travel to both heaven and hell and he returned to write thirty volumes about his visits. The Angels of Swedenborg is a theatricalization of Swedenborg’s visions realized in a stunning combination of dance, theatre, music and audio/visual elements including eight angels, two spirits and, of course, Swedenborg himself cavorting in a heavenly corral of swirling white feathers. □ Ping Chong

Artistic Philosophy & Goals Created out of a desire to address and incorporate the technical means as well as the global changes that the technological revolution has engendered. Ping Chong and Company explores the meaning of “contemporary theatre” on the national and international level. In brief. The Company was created to question the syntax of traditional theatre. In doing so, we ask the following questions: (1) what is theatre in the 20th Century, (2) what is the place of theatre in a media dominated society. (3) what are the effects of media, e. g. cinema, television and pop concerts, on theatre, (4) what is intrinsic to the 20th Century that was not part of a 19th Century reality, (5) what possible relationships within theatre itself do film, video, multitrack sound, the visual arts, dance and music create, (6) what new syntax is possible and finally, (7) since Ping Chong is Asian, how is it possible to create a theatre in America that crosses the ethnological inclinations of Ameri-

can theatre. It is inevitable that our work must take risks in order to explore, without regard to either failure or success, the evolution of an ancient and primal need that is called theatre. If theatre is to survive the increasing competition from the media, it must paradoxically reinstate the fundamental idea of theatre as a place of primal mysteries, of poetry, and of suggestion rather than as a poor imitation of the naturalism that the cinema and television can more readily achieve. Yet at the same time, theatre must acknowledge and incorporate the new perceptual syntax with the technological changes of this “brave new world”. It is only then that a contemporary theatre is capable of fulfilling its own uniqueness and flourishing in today’s society. □

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) I made Swedenborg’s acquaintance through Jorge Luis Borges’ singular work. The Book of Imaginary Beings, under the chapter heading Swedenborg's Angels and the chapter immediately following it, Swedenborg’s Devils. Borges wrote the following about Swedenborg’s Devih: In the works of the famous eighteenth century Swedish visionary, we read that Devils, like Angeh, are not a species apart but derive from the human race. They are individuah who after death choose Hell. There, in that region of marshlands, of desert waste, of tangled forests, of towns leveled by fire, of brothels and of gloomy dens, they feel no special happiness, but in heaven they would be far unhappier still. Occasionally a ray of heavenly light falls on them from on high; the devils feel it as a burning, a scorching, and it reaches their nostrils as a stench. Each thinks himself handsome, but many have faces of beast or have shapeless lumps of flesh where faces should be; others are faceless. They are in a state of mutual hatred and of armed violence, and if they come together it is for the purpose of plotting against one another or of destroying each other. God has forbidden men and Angels to draw a map of Hell, but we know that its general outline follows that of the Devil, just as the outline of Heaven follows that of an Angel. The most vile and loathsome Hells lie to the West. (p.