Buckets of salt are poured on the floor. Tiny creatures build roads and pathways across a sea of white. A small hand pops up among the particles of salt, trying to cross the hill. The camera follows it, and projects its escape on a screen.
Using a movie camera, a Puppet, and half a ton of salt, Amos Kenan’s mythological novel comes back to life. This is the escape route of a man of the land, an author, and a former combatant, who is forced to leave his home in Tel-Aviv after a military coup. Persecuted for his political views by the new regime, the protagonist attempts to reach Kibbutz Ein Harod in the Jezreel Valley. According to a mysterious radio broadcast, there, one last resistance group is still maintaining its opposition to the military regime.
Using the innovative puppet-cinema technique, developed by director Tzvi Sahar in New York, the plot is sculptured on salt and paper, and filmed and projected on a large screen. The stage simultaneously functions as ‘behind the scenes’ and as a photo set for the film that is shot and screened in a closed circuit, live, in front of the viewers. Thus, in a circle of destruction and construction, with every scene being built on the ruins of those which preceded it, an innovative and sophisticated new adaptation of an imaginary plot is created, which reflects the shattered dream of the divided Israeli society.
Duration: about an hour and a quarter. The show uses smoking substitutes as required by law (no addictive substances), gunshots, language.
