Balancing in Freedom @ Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
A deeply personal hour with storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist Iddo Oberski offers insights into what it means to be human, and what it means to be free
Two boots stand empty on either side of the stage. An unoccupied chair waits between them. A table is set with curious props, each ready to be filled with meaning. The chair is reserved for moments of intimacy; the props for moments of spectacle. Minimalist staging carries the physical and spiritual storytelling of Iddo Oberski as he takes a sold-out audience on a guided journey to explore the essence of humanity and freedom, meaning and connection. What follows is an exceptional hour of vocal, aural and visual performance.
Edinburgh's Oberski, originally from Amsterdam, has created a show that stays with you long after the curtain falls. The performer arrives on stage in a two-tone black and white suit – yin and yang – aided by two walking sticks that are placed inside of the boots. Tonight he fuses storytelling, puppetry, visual art, music, spoken word, magic and philosophy as he shares his experience of disability after a spinal stroke in 2009, which has resulted in reduced mobility, and his family’s Holocaust history.
His onstage counterpart, the puppet Svjetlana, is a philosophical sparring partner, sidekick and sounding board as he explores his history and search for meaning and hope. Out of the darkness comes light. The Holocaust, Oberski tells us, belongs to the past; his disability anchors him in the present; and his art points towards the future – a future that is also ours to determine, as we are asked what it truly means to be human, and to be free. A visceral performance for our times.
Balancing in Freedom returns to Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh on 15 Mar, 13 Jun and 20 Nov; also at Cumbernauld Theatre at Lanternhouse, 18 Apr, 31 Jul, 10 Sep and 11 Oct