AVANT-GARDE

AVANT-GARDE is a physical comedy on the universal theme of war and struggle.

Two brothers and their two best friends are enrolled in the army and sent to find the enemy. Their adventures force them to face themselves, each other, and a few of life’s harder questions.

Are they soldiers, heroes, or clowns? What’s the difference? Who cares? Are they funny?

Do they know it’s all a show? Are they stuck in their circumstances – or free to do as they like?

Non-verbal. An original mix of slapstick, clown-theatre and savage mime. Children friendly.

How it was created

AVANT-GARDE was made in 2018 with HaHaHa Impro Theatre, a Bulgarian improvisation company, and premiered in Sofia that year before playing in Paris in 2019. It began as Caspar Schjelbred’s idea; he wrote and directed it, building the show from the company’s improvisations. His task as director was not to impose form, but to set the conditions where precise, committed action and real play could happen at once – to build the frame, then let the company fill it.

Credits
Produced by HaHaHa Impro Theatre. After an original idea by Caspar Schjelbred. Directed by Caspar Schjelbred. Created and performed by Vasil Bovyanski, Jivko Jouranov, Alexander Mitrev and Ivaylo Rogozinov. Costume design by Zlatka Vacheva.