07 October 2009
Review
BEIRUT: Anyone out for a late-afternoon stroll on the Beirut’s Corniche on Saturday may have got a bit of a shock. A pair of actors spat, slapped, made obscene gestures, shouted, cheek-squeezed, hair-patted, mocked and mingled with the audience. Thankfully, the reaction comprised mainly helpless guffaws, the most adverse reaction being a slight recoil.
In fact, it was the interaction between performers and audience that made “Rickshaw” – a piece of physical theater from Dansk Rakkerpak – such a success. Comprising Danish performers Niels Peter Kloft and Niels Gronne, Dansk Rakkerpak were in town as part of the annual Beirut Street Festival, continuing at various roadside venues until October 25.
“Rickshaw” is a two-hander featuring a driver of the titular vehicle and his British imperialist backseat customer. The potential for political commentary in this set-up is potent – indeed, Dansk Rakkerpak des-cribe their piece as the “classic symbol of the supremacy of the white man over uncivilized foreigners.” But the seriousness of the issue is all too often obliterated by slapstick, the opportunity for which is never missed.
The show flourishes in front of a non-British audience, playing to most typical Anglo stereotypes. There is the old-fashioned accent of the aristocratic elite; there is the continual empty reiteration of extreme self-importance – “I’m busy!” – never failing to provoke mirth; and there is, of course, the elegant sipping of tea with little finger aloft.
Gronne’s characterization of the imperialist is inspired by John Cleese’s Basil in “Fawlty Towers.” His imitation is unnervingly accurate, complete with irrational shouting, desperate assertion of superiority in the face of increasing frustration, and even the Hitler goose-step. But it was the slapstick comedy that was the real hit, with adult and child alike.
Nobody left – even when Kloft pretended to squeeze the breasts of an unfortunate spectator. The most hazardous mo-ment seemed to be when Gronne magisterially grabbed the sandwich of his giggling audience member and bit two huge chunks out of it. The momentary tension, however, dissipated entirely in tumultuous laughter.
“Rakkerpak” is an old Nordic epithet applied to undesirable and suspicious groups of travelers, an ironic yet obvious title for this travelling comedic duo, who endear themselves to their audience by slapping and splashing them.
Going by the reaction on Beirut’s Corniche, it is precisely this bad behavior in which their popularity resides. Perhaps it was for this reason that Roula Kobeissi, organizer of the Beirut Street Festival, asked Kloft and Gronne to perform “Rickshaw,” the duo’s most slapstick show.
Fortunately for any haters of injustice in the crowd, their patience was rewarded. Toward the end of the performance, as audience-numbers reached their peak, the deprived rickshaw driver manages to hypnotize his pompous patron. The two men exchange positions and status, and the slumdog really does become the millionaire.
Now it is the impoverished man who declares, “I’m busy!” and shouts orders; conversely, the privileged imperialist scurries nervously, his body crouched. A disquieting note is struck as the previously disfavored driver shows no mercy when their positions are reversed.
The shock of the end is, of course, comfortably cushioned by the predictable and endlessly repeated comedy of falling over and of squashing one’s nether regions – but Dansk Rakkerpak would have betrayed their essence if it wasn’t. As Kloft explains after the performance, their spirit is “peace – theater – laugh.” And, somewhat surprisingly, the underlying motive behind all that slapstick is a moral one: “You’re more open-minded when you laugh.”
The Beirut Street Festival continues on Thursday and Friday with “In Life … In the City,” from Swiss company Da Motus on Hamra Street at 5 p.m. For further details, call +961 3 810 688.
Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
