soledad penadés

Yesterday evening started calmly. In a little coffee house near my workplace, I just realised once again my good luck which can be concreted more exactly in finding an empty table just near the window - to be able to enjoy the moving lights, the nice fade of colour from above to bottom due to the humidity- and also a newspaper ready for me just over the table.
There are two things I love in this situation: the fact of having that free read there, without having to feel guilty about throwing it because it's useless after it's been read, and the ability to stop that evening, after a tiring day, and look at the other people in the street, walking quickly in order to catch next train home. I'm one of them sometimes, and it is funny to give oneself the pleasure to leave the drama and be just part of the public, from outside.

So there I was, waiting for I-didn't-know-what - literally. I had been invited to a certain something in Barbican, which is quite near my workplace. That's why I just waited there until the meeting time. I was quite intrigued about the something. Would it be a performance? Would it be a play? An installation?

I also hadn't looked for it in Barbican's website. I just prefered to be surprised (preferably in a positive way, of course).

The ambience outside the theatre was quite interesting. It wasn't packed, but there were lots of people, each one quite different. They ranged from the usual super-artistic bohemian elements to the this-could-be-your-father type. And lots of oriental people! (Now I understand why ps has so many admirers in Japan. Keep reading)

The something consisted in an "audiovisual concert", as they call it. The "pieces" were formula and C4I, by Ryoji Ikeda.

I must confess that I was a bit scared with all the advertisement they had made, with notes everywhere and a voice announcement warning of stroboscopic lights and strong sounds during the first part of the show. I was trying to be strong!

I won't give details to not to reveal facts about the show - just in case you manage to see it. But I must confess that it was really very, very cool. It also gave me lots of ideas for future productions, and left me with lots of questions too. Of course, there were also people getting very, very nervous. You could see them, twisting themselves in their seats, even one man that was sitting on my left dissappeared after the interval.

So, all in all, a very well spent evening. Also, it's always great to be in an theatre and not to heard anything - even complaining or disgusted voices, as it's more usual when non-mainstream productions are played live (for example during demoparties). You somehow feel the public is more adult in these cases...