cargo, theatre on the road
You get on the truck at Sofia, Bulgaria and over the next few days, until you get to Madrid, you become a member and spectator of a travelling theatre. That’s what the play Cargo offers. The audience of the play Cargo have lived through a totally different experience. The “play” Cargo goes much further than anything you may see in a theatre. Director Stefan Kaegi explains the whys and wherefores of it all: “The journey takes place in a truck we’ve specially prepared for the whole thing. 50 spectators and 2 Bulgarian drivers take part. On the journey, the audience can see how a truck driver lives. They see how they drive across Europe and how they adopt to new cultures whilst still maintaining their own Balkan character.” Everything is seen from seats at the side of the truck. One side of the truck is a big glass window and the spectator-travellers spend the journey watching all that happens through it, as if it were one long journey. The word ‘travelling’ is honoured in two ways here: both as a the act of travelling in itself and in its cinematographic sense. The viewers are witness to a ‘road movie’ but rather than watching something that has been previously filmed, they live through the experience as it happens, and anything can happen. “Throughout the journey there’s the way the drivers live, how the police operate, the world of petrol stations... as the journey advances, the spectator won’t know where they are. When they reach Madrid, they get to know the outskirts of the Madrid of the foreign truck drivers.”
Life becomes theatre and theatre life. Kaegi explains how the consequences of globalisation are clearly seen in Cargo: “People who take part in the Cargo experience quickly realise that people in different countries live through the same experiences and situations and have to confront the same problems. But at the same time, as I said before, the special truck driver Balkan character adds a counterpoint to the whole thing. Globalisation is rife but everybody still finds a way to hang onto what makes them themselves. It’s almost instinctive”.
Life becomes theatre and theatre life. Kaegi explains how the consequences of globalisation are clearly seen in Cargo: “People who take part in the Cargo experience quickly realise that people in different countries live through the same experiences and situations and have to confront the same problems. But at the same time, as I said before, the special truck driver Balkan character adds a counterpoint to the whole thing. Globalisation is rife but everybody still finds a way to hang onto what makes them themselves. It’s almost instinctive”.
