A gentle and witty story about a tiny world where a nest is lost and searched for — that is what The Nest by the Czech theatre TMEL spoke about. The artists from Prague reminded us that we all long for a place of our own in this world. Jakub Miler and Nikolas Ferenc devotedly created an emotional landscape rich in imagery and sound. Bravo! And now, the floor belongs to Jakub Miler, one of the two actors who performed this imaginatively conceived production directed by Jakub Prokop…
Was humanity and its damaged ecosystem an inspiration when you came up with the idea for this performance?
We wanted to create and explore a small ecosystem that is not based on human rules. We viewed that world as one large organism within which entirely different rules exist.
How does an actor-puppeteer connect with these tiny creatures, breathe life into them, and invent the language they speak, considering this is a nonverbal performance that uses unusual sounds for communication?
It was easier to connect with some of them, and more difficult with others. We didn’t want to impose fixed characteristics on them right away; instead, we first explored the nature of the puppets themselves. For example, connecting with the snail came naturally, while with some of the others it took time to discover their language, movement, body expression, sounds, and overall personality. Sometimes we spent hours thinking about it — experimenting, imagining, discarding certain ideas, and discovering new ones. Finding a language for the tiniest puppets was the most challenging part. But overall, working on this production was a fascinating experience, and we truly enjoyed the process. Our director constantly encouraged us to listen to what the materials the puppets were made of were trying to tell us, and sometimes it took a long time to uncover that during rehearsals.
How many people are there in your troupe?
There are seven of us. We are mostly the same age, we think in similar ways, and we communicate very well with one another.
How do you choose the themes you work on in TMEL?
In this particular performance, the inspiration came from the materials used to create the puppets and the scenography. Those materials organically merged into the production and inspired us to create an unusual world in which we explored the various dangers lurking within it.
How do you cope, as artists, with the uncertainties and tensions of today’s world? Does theatre make it easier to reflect on these realities and heal through art? And what is the situation like for artists in the Czech Republic today?
For us in TMEL, it is a great blessing to have one another, because we understand each other. For artists in the Czech Republic, things have become a bit more difficult lately, as the new government is investing less in culture. Financially, we are secure for this year, but it remains uncertain what the coming period will bring.