La Fura dels Baus (the name has multiple meanings, Sewer Rats, among
others) combines technology and primitivism. Half-naked or militaristically
garbed performers (all men) drive around the space in self-made mobiles
and climb like monkeys on scaffolding.
A whole host of different things move around on wheels: water pails,
huge scaffolding, towers, boxes, weapons, car tyres. There is no dialogue,
but plenty of shouting and noise-making. In recent years the group has begun
projecting videos to relay the audience's movements and reactions, for instance.
The performances are a total attack of all possible stimuli: pounding
music and industrial rock - La Fura dels Baus has also released albums as
a rock group - are blasting at the same time as the performers are making
their own noises by banging and moving around the multitude of props and
technical aids. The group has a huge arsenal of percussion and various other
instruments. Fire, explosions, smoke, and water, paint and flour sprayed
on performers and the audience are standard fare.
Even though the performances are markedly a theatre of gestures and acts
and of seemingly uncontrolled rampaging, they follow a careful, minute-by
minute structure. Often the performances also have a story line that is
not immediately discernible in the midst of the frantic tempo. For example,
there is a clear story behind Tier Mon (1989): a war breaks out, which results
in the senseless submission of individuals, killings, and fleeing. The battle
ends in the punishment of those on the losing side and in the setting up
of a refugee camp. The final image is of executions and apocalyptic self-destruction.
It is easy to see the world view of La Fura dels Baus as pessimistic.
The performances describe different types of dystopias and extreme situations
in human life. People turn against one another, and killings and violence
are everyday events. The performances tread the field of primitive instincts.
A central role is played by masculine testosterone, an aggressive release
of energy.
The performances are rituals for which there aren't always names. They
speak to the viewer's subconscious. While they are very concrete and tangible
with their enormous props and physical shapes, they also enter into the
abstract, conceptual plane. Accions, which was seen in Finland over ten
years ago, was a collection of nameless angst and grotesque, powerfully
visual and disturbing stage images.
The theatrical language of La Fura dels Baus is strong, physical, passionate,
restless and has a hard beat. The performances effectively manipulate the
viewer's experience: the viewer's pulse increases in sync with that of the
performers. For the viewers, the performances are like war games where the
feeling of danger is literally present.
The group emphasises, however, that the violence is not directed at the
audience, even though the performance invades and violates the viewer's
"private space". The experience of a La Fura dels Baus performance
is cleansing and therapeutic in the same way as massive rock concerts -
or gladiator shows. The final performance really takes place in the viewer's
head.
Hannu Harju
The writer is a theatre critic for Helsingin Sanomat and a planner for
the Helsinki Act symposium programme. | 
