MOVING THEATRE TO STREETS
Continually exploring new dimensions in visual /mask theatre, in 2012 Iva & Petar launched BIG BUGS SHOW, a ‘Kafkaesque’ crawling spectacle featuring four giant lifelike beetles. The spectacle is set on street, right amongst the audience. By taking some popular themes – such as ‘junk food’ and ‘food waste’ – and turning them into a form of a satirical urban legend – the authors create a contemporary street theatre that communicates with broad audience. Big Bugs Show has been in repertoire since 2012 and has been played with a great succes at many International (Street) Theatre Festivals, Puppet Festivals, City Festivals and environmental events ever since.
The authors about street theatre: “We believe that street theatre should not be merely ‘entertainment’. It should be in the same time engaging, it should reflect current matters and carry a message or comment. We see street theatre as an opportunity to create a form of true LIVING THEATRE, a ‘happening-like’, direct theatre.“
URBAN LEGEND
Big Bugs is a satirical urban spectacle about the beetles who grow to enormous proportions because of the consumption of junk food and breathtaking amounts of food-waste being available to them on the streets in the big cities.
Four huge lifelike beetles show up in the middle of the city. The ‘Kafkaesque’ parade, consisting of a giant Cockroach; an enormous Lady-bug; a Stag beetle and a Jewel beetle go on the rampage through the streets, causing excitement and ‘mass-hysteria’ amongst the public. The act, which starts as electrifying chaos-generating happening among the audience, culminates in a hilarious circle-performance on a city-square.
The story gets a satirical dimension through the character of The Forester (a spokesman of the environmental organization G.R.E.E.N.) as he reveals a special bugs-fitness/lifestyle program which will reduce them back to their normal size. A solution to the giant- beetles-issue which is causing widespread panic and unrest amongst the population.
BIG BUGS BEHIND-THE-SCENES
“A special challenge with this production was to transform an actor into a realistic looking insect. We spent some time examining the anatomy of insects and creating a number of prototypes before we finally managed to create a structure/body-suit that enables a performer to animate it in such a way that it mimics the movement of a real insect.”
“We are very glad with the result and amazed how people react; Frequently the crowd is following us after the show all the way to the backstage to find out how did we do it; some people even think that the Bugs are some kind of super advanced remote controlled robots and are totally astonished when they figure out that the Bugs are actually performers” .
BIG BUGS SHOW
A STREET THEATRE SHOW/ A CONTEMPORARY URBAN LEGEND
FEATURING 4 GIANT BEETLES AND A FORESTER
Concept, story & creatures created by
IVA KOSTOVIC-MANDICK & PETAR MANDICK
Performance:
ENSEMBLE OF MR.IMAGE THEATRE
The cast:
Season 2017 – 2019 including:
Victor Bottenbley, Dion Vincken, Matteo Frau, Tijana Mandick, Jasper den Uyl, Alexander Szivkov, Tamar Burgerstar, Anton Rudakov, Oscar Smith
Duration: 40 minutes
Suitable for adults and children of all ages
PRESS ARTICLES
“The center of Santander has been invaded on Saturday by mutant bugs who amused and frightened citizens who, despite the size of the creatures, have not hesitated to take thousands of pictures with them.”
– EL DIARIO MONTAÑÉSI
“Big Bugs were the most popular at this year’s Festival.”
– SPRAOI FESTIVAL – Twitter
“Three insects in thousand-fold size occupied the city – to the delight and horror of hundreds of kids who screeching with joy mixed with horror – together with their parents raced to discover the creatures.”
– STIFTEN, DENMARK
“My favorite part was a performance of the street theater group Mr. Image infesting the Oerparade with their Big Bugs. The enormous glimmering insects seemed to come straight from a nightmare of Kafka, and apparently made such an impression on me that I later indeed dreamed of them”
– Guinnessbooksandrecords. Nederland Reads