Matei Vișniec

Occident Express

drama

East and West collide in the drama West Express by Matei Vișniec, published in the volume Balkanic Trilogy, and taking further the idea of the merging of the two worlds.

The title plays on the name of the exotic luxury train, the world-famous Orient Express, which presented the East as a hidden treasure to those who longed for adventure. But West Express means a different kind of wanderlust: instead of luxurious dreams, it is about life. While one served the joyrides of rich Westerners, the other one gathers groups of people fighting for a better life. In the story, the Balkans are presented as the stereotypical ideas of a Westerner during the film production scenes, completed by wedges of stories about the dusty reality of everyday life. Fragments of life are embodied by the dreams of the old blind man, the devotion of whores and their pimps, the emigrants who feel completely lost, or the dialogues between street musicians in the subway. Through cardinal points, cultures, customs, ethnicities, westernization and easternness, the performance is about humanity as a whole.

 

Cast of characters:

Premier: 2019.03.01