The author’s production by Dominika Špalková and Anna Klimešová will finally have its premiere after several delays. The composition of the relationship between mother and daughter called Nothing else, Mothers will take place for the first time on September 13th at the Palac Akropolis in Prague. Dancer Cécile Da Costa and actress Antonie Formanová will appear in the production for two performers.
The author’s production of Dominika Špalková and Anna Klimešová Nothing else, Mothers is a composition of the relationship between mother and daughter. It’s about looking beyond the subjective memory, strength and power of our feelings. The transmission of emotional patterns from generation to generation. To what extent do we allow ourselves to be influenced by our initial relationships and adopted patterns of behavior? And if we uncover them, can we transcend them?
The title, theme and structure of the production were inspired by music. “Dominika asked me if I would like to do a performance with her about the relationship between mothers and daughters called Nothing else, Mothers. She used to think that the song from Metallica was actually called that, which is actually accurate,” the director Anna Klimešová reveals the origin of the title of the production.
“I like ‘childish mistakes’ when we think for a long time that something means something and only later do we find out that it means something completely different. Such a moment spontaneously takes us out of our sometimes rigid attitudes, which seems to me to be a parallel to understanding relationships in general. What is truth and what do we project into relationships? And how to look at them differently than before? The anagram of the title also has the potential for humor and playfulness, which appear in our production,” Dominika Špalková adds.
Inspiration by music is also reflected in the structure of the production, which the directors and performers compose in the style of a music composition. “We take it as one song, which we have divided into several parts, which stretch throughout the production and show the individual phases of the relationship. As in music, the dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship are diverse and variable,” Anna Klimešová describes. The two directors have known each other for a long time, and years ago they created the performance Vertigo based on the book Waves by Virginia Woolf.
The production Nothing else, Mothers features dancers Cécile Da Costa, with whom Dominika Špalková collaborated on movement performances Roselyne, and actress Antonie Formanová. The analogy of the mother-daughter relationship thus reaches a two-generation cast – the dancer teaches the actress to dance and vice versa, just as daughters learn from mothers in life.
The female production team is complemented by the composer Marie Čtveráčková known as Mary C, light designer Eliška Kociánová and set designer Karolína Kotrbová. “I try to connect the scenography as much as possible to our theme and to reflect in the space the relationship between mother and daughter, its variability, moodiness, subtlety, surprise, but also negatives. So the space should be lively and surprising, like the relationship itself,” the set designer adds.
The production was created last August at a residency in the Polish Fundacja Palac Gorzanów, which ended with a presentation of work in progress. The originally planned site-specific premiere at the 4 + 4 Days in Motion festival in October did not take place due to government regulations (only a public work in progress presentation took place) and the November theatrical premiere had to be postponed. Nothing else, Mothers will finally have its theatrical premiere – at the Palac Akropolis on September 13th.