Amazing, stunning, beautiful, ugly. The list of adjectives to describe this show could go on. This is theatre at its most innovative. With Red Zone, Derevo redefine the medium, using daring, risk, vulnerability, honesty and commitment, both physical and emotional, that is rarely seen.
The show opens with a bizarre clown routine. Dressed in post-apocalyptic rags, with shaven heads and painted bodies, three clowns drag the audience through a hilarious routine of extreme violence, noise, and a total disregard for their own safety. We fear for them and ourselves, when iron bars and knives fly indiscriminately across the stage.
However, it is clear from the rest of the show that these performers exert awesome control and discipline and that nobody is in any real danger. Or is it?
After a black out and more noise, Derevo open the senses and take the audience to the heart of their world. With a series of visual poems, they bypass conventional modes of communication, and lead the audience into a world where it is pointless trying to interpret meaning,
This is a purely sensual experience. Derevo create a mood that is both personal and universal: presenting the human body, without judgement, in all its glory, baseness, beauty and ugliness. Each scene takes us to extremes with physical, technical, visual, and emotional perfection.
Vadim Gololobov's lighting, and Andrej Sizintsev's sound are beautifully integrated to create a piece that leaves one with a post-meditative feeling which is simultaneously one of emptiness and fulfilment. Call it what you like – dance, movement, clowning, acting – this really is total theatre.