Black Light Theatre Srnec

Have been working pretty hard these days on trying to further people's perception and understanding of how ideas about this world work on a rather abstract and fundamental level. So it's a most delightful experience to find myself captivated by how our ability to perceive may cause us to not to see some things as they are and to see other things as they are not. I went to the Gala Show by a group of artists from a country which was home to one of my favourite novelists, Kafka. It's the Black Light Theatre Srnec from the Republic of Czech.


What exactly is Black Light Theatre? According to the Wikipedia, it's "a theatrical performance style characterized by the use of 'black box theatre' augmented by black light illusion" a kind of theatre first began by Chinese jugglers performing before emperors but has now become a specialty of Prague, which now has 10 similar theatres devoted to this art.

In this type of theatre,some front stage artists perform on the completely black stage whilst other hidden actors dressed in invisible black move about with various stage props with fluorescent patterns which, when shone on by special Ultraviolet lighting (the so-called "black light" which absorbs light within certain frequency bands), will appear as various color patterns. The combined effect is that some objects appear as bright as if the room were fully lit whilst others would "disappear" into the surrounding dark background. This kind of technique was first used in modern times by the French cineaste Georges Méliè and also by that famous Russian dramatist Stanislavsky. The black light theatre is a very thoughtful combination of acrobatics, modern dance and mimes, performed to the rhythms of different types of music.

Contemporary Black Light Theatre has now added such new devices as "flying" performers, large video projections, and even massive puppets, something which has won the hearts of audiences worldwide. Since the stunning and often hilarious effects are purely visual, the lack of dialogue is a plus instead of a minus. Major companies currently producing Black Light Theatre include Srnec Theatre, HILT, Ta Fantastika Theatre, Image Theatre, Metro Theatre, and All Colours Theatre.

It was Jiří Srnec, the "father" of modern Black Light Theatre, who created the "black cabinet" technique, still being used nowadays (by the combined use of spot lights, ultra violent light, selected black velvet as the best material to absorb residual light on the scene...). The group staged its first show in 1959 Vienna but its real world debut was at 1962 Edinburgh Theatre Festival in 1962. According to the programme notes, the group now gives some 300 performances a year and starting1959, has now traveled to more then 87 countries in 280 foreign tours. On 28th October 2011, Jiří Srne was awarded the "Credit of the State in the Field of Culture and Arts Medal" by the Czech President, the highest cultural award of the country. Srnec Theatre belongs now among the most important representatives of the Czech art in the world.

I really like the way the artists create the illusion of various objects flying in the air, falling down, floating, flowing, jumping up out of nowhere with cloth, with or without further well hidden wires, sticks, cages etc. It's a celebration of the power of the human imagination to break through what first appears insuperable physical barriers and the clearest demonstration of how we may all derive some innocent joy from watching, with child-like guilessness, the play of colors, shapes and motions with the cartoon type objects: a living and moving monument of that most precious quality of man, his creativity.