May | Perform Czech

Jiří Austerlitz and Boca Loca Lab concentrate on voiceband adaptations of texts and scenic compositions on the border of theatre and music. In this production, the source material is Mácha’s literary classic Máj (May). The company aims to strip Mácha of a glossy layer of sentiment to embrace the passionate, cruel and burning aspects of his poetry. After all, Máj is a poem about love. However, it also deals with the terror of nothingness and the quest for the meaning of life. Four actors move in virtuoso fashion from voiceband choruses to heartfelt solo statements. Musician Michal Cáb is present on stage, where he reacts with instruments, noisemakers, cymbals, and a modular synthesiser.

About the company

The theatre group Boca Loca Lab was founded in 2007 by director and author Jiří Adámek, now Jiří Austerlitz. The group uses principles of musical composition as the primary framework for their projects. In recent years, they have introduced installation art. Their style is defined by minimalist acting, experiments with text and voice and a one-of-a-kind approach to props that takes cues from puppetry and conceptual art.

Michal Cáb is a musician, visual artist, and teacher. He studied theology in addition to attending a postgraduate program at the Academy of Performing Arts (The Studio of Intermedia with Tomáš Vaněk). As a musician, he explores the realm of noise through improvisation and programming in Pure Data language. He collaborates with several theatres and visual artists on theatre and exhibition projects. He often creates his own synthesisers and other musical instruments.