blackSKYwhite certain to shock at summit

blackSKYwhite certain to shock at summit

The radical Russian theater group, blackSKYwhite, is due to take
the stage as the last act in Art Summit Indonesia 2004, with
performances at 8 p.m. on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 at Graha Bhakti
Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta.

The group was first established in 1988 and soon became widely
known for its progressive, nontraditional and stylish
performances.

Theater blackSKYwhite is perhaps the most adequate embodiment
of Antonin Artaud's "theater of cruelty" concept.

Some of its interpretations were described in The Herald
newspaper as "a waking nightmare. It is very, very scary.

"The show is like a panto that has gone badly wrong, a slasher
movie in which you are the victim, a circus act where the clowns
have run amok with meat cleavers.

"You admire its brilliance and hate it for its lack of
humanity. It is theater and it is antitheater."

The reaction of Jakarta audiences to a dramatic presentation
of such memorable intensity could be interesting, to say the
least.