Malasombra
Duration:60 min
Target group: 7 years
Malasombra was a shadow theater combined with dancing in front of the stage, in addition there was a live band, so we really got to experience the music. The play was about a man who sells his shadow to the devil for a bottomless wallet, only to discover that without a shadow he is ostracized by society.
Before the performance, we had a chat with Gaspar Morey who is the director of the play. He told us that there is a bit of horror, so we expected it to be a pretty scary performance. When we asked what the meaning of the play was, he told us that there wasn't really any particular meaning to it, but if there were to be something, it would probably be democracy or socially related content. The performance itself was about a girl and her shadow, and there is also a man who goes to great lengths to try to steal the shadow from her. when he manages to steal the shadow from her, we felt that he took something away from the girl. The girl herself starts to work in a factory, while the shadow is trapped. Eventually they find each other and stand up to the man.
This shows differences in society and that some people believe they are worth more than others. For example, the man tries to catch the girl because he is much better.
After seeing the show, we were quite confused. We didn't understand much of the content, and the message was very unclear to us. Something that really lived up to our expectations was the horror, because it was incredibly scary. The fact that the target audience is 7 years old we think was incredibly low, and will probably be terrified after the performance.
"We think that if the message had been clearer, and much easier to understand, we would probably have given the play more masks. Since we, who are 15 years old, didn't understand much of the message, the target group of 7 years will be a little low.
I was a bit disappointed after the play, because I think shadow theater and dance seemed like a very good combination, and I was looking forward to seeing the play. So I would say that the concept was very good, but the message was very unclear.
Of us in SUS, only 1 out of 5 understood the content of the play. In retrospect, when I think about the play, and have been explained what the message was, I understand more. The fact that I now understand the content makes me like the play much better.
We chose to give this piece 2 and a half theater masks, because the content was unclear and it was incredibly complicated to understand. It draws attention to the incredible use of shadows combined with dance. We would have liked to see a similar performance just with a simpler message.
Text: Lise Driveklepp
Photos: One taken by myself, the rest are from showbox.no