A Petrol-Soaked World
Gasoline, used as a fuel for most spark ignition engines, is most commonly produced by fractional distillation from petroleum.
Gasoline, a post-modernist production by Ukrainian students from the Puppetry Theatre Department in Kiev, opened this year's festival before it officially began.
The Ukrainian creators have reworked several fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm - it is the petrol that unites them into one whole, replacing life-giving water or any magical drink. However, its basic function, bringing life back to something/someone dead, is complemented by a deep ethical and philosophical question: What is the value of human life? Is its price even quantifiable? These “riddles” resound across the narrative spectrum - but the collage of tales is not a romantic depiction of the world and humanity, but a profound probe that harshly reveals the reality of our existence.
The number of stories used causes a certain repetitiveness that, while it emphasises the cyclical nature of human behaviour, makes the production feel monotonous after a while. The dark atmosphere and brutality of this students’ account is primarily enhanced by its editing, lighting and music - but its main means of expression are the stylization and diesel-punk style masks.
The message of all fairy tales is clear - good will conquer evil, or that all bad will turn to good. But is it really so? Don’t we now live in a slightly different, more wicked, and petrol-soaked world where human life is losing its value?
