featured En: Floating Island

Posted September 8th, 2024 filed under featured En.

Floating Island / Roy Chen


Comic Drama Fantasy Periodical Drama Poetic Drama Subject: Struggle The Other Love Friendship Desires Death English	Two present day prisoners, an intellectual librarian and a simple minded crook, sit in their cell and read Cervantes’ Don Quixote in religious like repetition. They literally “break” the fourth wall of their cell and of the stage, but the border between reality and insanity can be too fragile. This is not an adaptation of the great novel by Cervantes but an original modern tale that can take place in any prison around the globe with a library in it. This is the story of friendship between two men, and about the necessity of fighting the windmills inside ourselves.
The characters	Female:2 Male:3 Total:5 3M, 2F Theo, a convict working as a librarian in prison / Don Quixote Luca, a convict working as a cook in prison / Sancho Panza Guard / Slave Trader / Doctor Nurse / Madam in a brothel Theresa, Luca’s wife The first act takes place in a modern prison cell. The second act takes place in a modern psychiatric ward for ex-cons and inside the mind of Theo. The time: today.
Translations	English
Productions	Premierre 2015 Gesher Theatre director: Yevgeni Arye Production page theaters Gesher Theatre More in Israel Floating Island unfolds the story of Theo and Luca, two contemporary convicts who share a prison cell together. Theo is an unsettled intellectual who works in the prison library, Luca is a good-natured illiterate who works in the prison kitchen, where he secretly prepares the French dessert consisting mainly of egg whites and sugar called île flottante, floating island. The two men, who come from opposite background, connect thanks to a book that they read together again and again with religious piety – “Don Quixote” the immortal novel by Miguel de Cervantes. While reading the cell walls seem to disappear and the two play like children when Theo is Don Quixote and Luca is Sancho Panza. Thus, they experience a little of the freedom they so long for. They learn to free themselves from the body, from common sense and from their own biography. This is a story about correction, with a guru who leads a one-man cult. It deals with the concept of chivalry nowadays. It is not an adaptation of Don Quixote but rather a tribute to some of the ideas. Since, for me, Don Quixote is mainly about freedom, feel free to create your own world from this play.
Quotes	Luca: What sold more: Don Quixote or the Bible? Theo: It depends, there are times in which people believe in God and times when they believe in themselves.