Tolja Djoković / Fabiana Iacozzilli - En Abyme

Tolja Djoković bases her En Abyme on director James Cameron’s explorations of the depths of the sea. And just as Cameron reached the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, so Djokovic plunges into the depths of the most intimate dynamics of the human being.

En Abyme intersects and overlays four different levels of storytelling like a “continuous chant – writes the author – in which images, actions, environments, sounds and words all engage in dialogue, to build original new meanings”. There is the “documentary” focused on James Cameron’s endeavour; “He, She and the Girl”, dedicated to the story of the relationship between father and daughter; “The eye”, or the lens of a video-camera that metaphorically replicates Cameron’s work, filming a woman’s daily routine; and finally there is “Marianne”, the woman’s voice at the centre of the adventure which competes with the “documentary” for the role of story-teller of the deep.

“A fundamental element in my work”, explains Tolja Djoković, “is the fil rouge of the descent into the depths, a situation that exemplifies different frames of mind: on the one hand the fear of going to the bottom of things, on the other the introduction of the discoveries that can be made only by those ready to run the risk of being lost. Indeed I have always been interested in the limits imposed by the practice of theatre and I felt the need to understand and test how far our imagination can take us in the challenge to overcome them”.

The play, following last year’s mise en lecture, will be shown as a complete production in Venice, directed by Fabiana Iacozzilli, who has made her mark in theatre with productions distinguished by their strong visual impact.