Directors and performers: Raho Aadla, Age Linkmann, Arolin Raudva, Maarja Tõnisson
Since the beginning of June, there have been rumors around town that Humdrumhum 2 is something very powerful. There is no clear answer to the question of what exactly happens there, everyone is just conjuring a blissful smile on their face and sighs: “You have to see it for yourself!” Fortunately, a couple of additional shows are announced in August.
The piece is played at the old Põhjala factory in Kopli. After going through the Soviet era gates and waiting in the stairwell with peeled paint on the walls, we enter a spacious room where a band plays in one corner and where objects which probably will be used in the play are scattered around. Soon, wonderful things will be happening in this worn out industrial building. I’m in Wonderland where nothing is what it looks like, and everything is possible. The kitchen table grows into a princess and releases the dark forces of the goblin-rag. The bubbling and crackling golden cloth becomes a huge tent, where the sparkling fly-eyed creatures contact us. Doors fall over and form a long table and blankets become the corridor walls. An innocent red curtain stretches out to become a menacing Wicked Queen and a little Alice is hatching from the quilted March Hare at the top of the dangerously shaky animal pyramid. And then we are guided through the Magical Forest (and suspiciously trembling scaffolds) back to the Post-Soviet era industrial landscapes, quilted animals and Alice waving goodbye for us joyfully.
One and a half hours in Wonderland have passed.
I am enchanted. Enthralling music, smart decorations, the troupe and the audience grow into one – it was a powerful energy injection. The most fascinating thing for me in the production was the fusion of four people into one organism – to sway and jump on a high-level suspension, or to spill over the horizontal row of doors/tables as a sighing and humming human ball. You have to see it for yourself!
