Butterfly Kiss
Elinor Agam is a theatre director, who grew up in Belgium, then moved to France and then at the age of eighteen, she shifted to Israel. She wanted to be an actress but decided to go for directing, “I have done my degree in stage directing and then continued learning cultural management, and I am directing since 10 years already. In Israel I do shows for adults and children. I am married to a quite famous actor of Israel and mother of two baby boys,” says Elinor.
Her inclination towards art took place at a very early stage, “Right from school, I was a part of my school’s theatre group and would perform, and in school itself I was already director’s assistant. It is then that I realized that I am much more comfortable behind the stage rather than being on it.” In a conversation with A.Kameshwari from One World News, Elinor expresses her love for theatre, with special comments from her friend Hagar Tushmann:
What sort of plays you love directing the most?
It depends on the audience and the material you work with. I love directing in any case and I love theatre. Especially a good theatre, as it is rare to find. Believe me, some are really bad! And I think there is something special when you work for children.
Children are the true audience; I’ll say they are expert critics and an excellent audience, because they show exactly what they feel. If they are scared they scream, if they don’t want to be there they cry, if they are enjoying they laugh so, they react in the most authentic way to what is happening on stage. So maybe, I think I enjoy the most when I create something for children.
What are your themes?
It’s not working about any theme but about creating powerful theatre experience. It’s not about what I want to say but about how I say it. I like theatre and I believe that the only way a theatre can survive is by creating a live art on stage, which means working with light, music, dance, singing and if possible also puppetry and video art. To present all these as live as possible to give my audience a firsthand feel of realism in Theatre.
Theatre has to cross the four walls, three walls of the auditorium and the fourth wall between the stage and the audience. This wall between the stage and the audience has to be broken. The audience should feel a sense of responsibility towards the stage and the stage should feel that it has to share its art with the audience.
How do you take care of all the things like lights, props etc.?
I work with different artists, in case of Butterfly kiss I have worked with studio of design called Praktik Studio and it’s their first work for theatre and this is what I like that they are not used to theatre. They had to do a complete research to know how to create theatre, especially for children. The music was done by Areil Keshet of Israel who has tried to bring something soothing and gentle like butterflies in music.
What is Mediatheque?
Mediatheque is just the name of the theatre. It is a very big theatre for children in Israel and creates about 4 to 5 shows per year for different age groups (2-15) trying to communicate to children with different subjects and different theatre style.
Tell me something about Israel’s culture
Israel is a very small country, from north to south it takes about 5 hours. Culturally it is a Jewish and Muslim country. Because of a very small population, we are like a big family, though right now the situation is little hot in terms of politics. It’s a complex and tense country politically and needs its art forms to come out of this ruckus.
How independent are women in Israel?
Hagar: Women are very free and independent. They can travel alone at any point of time during the entire day. I used to live alone for two years there; I used to travel alone and could do everything.
Ten years of Theatrical journey, how has it been?
It’s not really just one journey because when you are directing every play is a new Journey for you. I am always excited and at the same time scared. My play Butterfly has been played for almost hundred times in Israel but now I am presenting it in front of India, a new country and completely new audience, so the experience is as exciting as it is scary. These are the important moments. Last time we went to Japan with Butterfly Kiss, and in Israel we performed it in front of specially-abled children, so even that was an amazing experience, and I think when you are an artist everything you do has to be a new journey to be travelled.
Tell me something about ‘Butterfly Kiss’?
I created Butterfly Kiss when my elder son was one and a half year old, I wanted to create something for his age children because most of the theatres are from the age of three or four, so I was thinking what can I do to give him visually attractive experience of theatre, to touch the heart but not the mind, try to work with emotions and senses more than thinking. So, I thought of butterfly because they are beautiful and all children love them.
How much preference is given to art in Israel?
The art in Israel is quite developed; there are many theatres and loads of audiences. Every one watches theatre here. There are ample of theatre plays for children and it is compulsory that every class has to see two shows a year. Hagar Tushmann has completed her acting school a year ago and has already acted in six plays, some for adults and some for children.
Are you excited to perform in India?
It is exciting to perform in India, because the children are so moved and new to theatre here. We could feel that they are not yet exposed to the world of theatre. That has made us more excited because we could see once we were on stage they were amazed. It was so much fun. Once I hid behind a big cloud on our set and was watching people coming in the theatre with their kids, and the expression of joy and wonder on kids face made me cry because it was so touching. The experience here has charged up my batteries and makes me want to do more theatre.
What are you expecting here?
I hope people who watch my show, cherish it forever, because the children are our future and the experience they have in their life would make them grow in a spiritual way, as well. It does matter if they learn things like to be calm, sweet etc. I want to spread magic in their heart through theatre.
Any message for our readers?
Whenever we get a chance to be here again, we want them to accept and love us the same way they have now!
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