Radar Sofia Produces The Telepathic Bar :: Radar Sofia

Oct 30 and Nov 5, 2021

Radar Sofia produced the Telepathic Bar, an installation-performance for a bar and drinks, by Ferran Dordal and Alexander Manuiloff. The sound design is by Rossen Pavlov.

The Bulgarian premieres took place in Derida Stage Sofia and Bar Atelieto.

"The Telepathic Bar" is a sound performance taking place in a real bar where people can “hear” each other’s thoughts in a game of heard, seen and projected suggestions. People’s secret fears and hidden desires are placed under the spotlight, but so is the hypocrisy of contemporary life and its fake political correctness. "The Telepathic Bar" is a meeting point of the big topics of sex and politics, the subtle interplay between erotic and power, and is also intimately presenting the rising nationalistic, narrow-minded thinking, so indicative of the new realities in the world.

“The Telepathic Bar” gives the option to audiences to start performing even only with their physical presence in the bar, but they can also chose to play “roles” or interact with each other as they find suitable, while deciding to just sit and observe the others is also a legitimate choice. The piece also gives people the opportunity to experience a night at a bar in a totally different, revealing way. The event later evolves into a music party, blurring the boundaries between performative and real life once again. But “The Telepathic Bar” is also a meeting point of the big topics of sex and politics, the subtle interplay between erotic and power, and is also intimately presenting the rising nationalistic, “closed”, narrow-minded thinking which is so indicative of the new realities in Europe and the world beyond.

The very first idea of “The Telepathic Bar” was created in a cooperation between Theatertreffen’s International Forum Alumni Ferran Dordal Lalueza and Alexander Manuiloff at Schwere Reiter theatre venue in Munich in 2015 and was later selected for the development programme Bloom Up of Goethe Institute and the Municipality of Munich, when in September-October the two creators worked together with sound designer and sound designer Rossen Pavlov. The result at that stage was showcased at the Festival of Independent Theatre in Munich in October 2016 and later in Outlaws Festival of Pori, Finland, in 2019.