PETAR MILOSHEVSKI
LOVE by Petar Miloshevski: Love to death
A review by Apartés
28 May 2016, Paris Fringe Festival, Paris
See it: if you have a tormented heart
It was love at first sight: 'Have you died before ?'; 'Only in my dreams'
LOVE*, Petar Miloshevski
In a terrifying solo piece, the UK-trained Macedonian actor Petar Miloshevski, electrifies the Feux de la Rampe Theatre as part of the Paris Fringe Festival, first edition of this international festival of theatre in English, which runs until Sunday 29th May.
Already, the punishment is signified by the soundtrack, grating, irradiating the rows of the Feux de la Rampe, which are immersed in total darkness, with an oppressive atmosphere. Then HE appears, under a blood-red light, head shaved and wearing a bathrobe. The effect is overwhelming.
A spine-chilling performance
This man has a very peculiar design: to post an ad to make love and maybe more i.e. to be killed, cut up and eaten in the hope of reaching sexual nirvana. Granted, the topic is not the most inviting. And yet… the delivery is extremely compelling, free of haemoglobin, special effects, video or any other device to create anguish and gore. Everything here is performance. Mime sequences are stinging in their pinpoint precision. From insistent, almost sadistic flirting scenes – he smokes nonchalantly, a half-smile playing at the corner of his lips, to succumb with abandon, mouth open and hand on the forehead – to face-offs between the two men – he turns his Dracula-like bathrobe inside out to switch characters – to the love-to-death scene, the dramatic register is played with great finesse and, in addition to the feeling of dread it procures, plunges us into the abyss of an undisputable madness.
Bold lighting, ranging from blue to red, potently highlights violent and macabre scenes while the soundtrack, ranging from lyrical arias to shrill telephone rings, leaves us no respite from the escalating madness.
An actor of frightening precision
Perfect 'bad guy' with a shaved head, veins pulsating, pointy ears, emaciated features, piercing, clear blue eyes, the actor Petar Miloshevski is compelling. He mimes, he dances, he speaks (and looks at us brrrr) as if possessed by this sadistic, cruel and deadly love. Each movement of the mouth, of the eyes, of the hands, of the feet has significance. He excels at making us feel the deepest and most horrific torments: 'We possess an animality which is our obsession.' Champion of solo works which pull and twist the human soul in all directions, Petar Miloshevski has been acclaimed for his earlier productions - HOPE and THE BEAUTIFUL - and continues his journey in visceral and experimental theatre with LOVE. An award he received in 2013 at the Festival International MOST in Germany describes his universe perfectly: 'Award for the transmission of impulses of the human soul in the language of movement and poetry.'
Claire Bonnot
LOVE written and performed by Petar Miloshevski
Le 29 mai à 18h
au Théâtre Les Feux de la Rampe
34, rue Richer, 75009 Paris
*LOVE at Paris Fringe was presented under the title of AMOUR