And fatigue, but it is a gentle grimace. Lit up with a smile. The last few days of hard work have taken their toll on them. They are under an increasing pressure, though nobody mentions that: today is the day all are going to see the results of their efforts. Anticipation, yes, that's the right word to describe it.
So, we wait. Those, who have nothing to rehearse, no instrument to tune, no needle to thread, no role to practice or any part of installation to check (Is everything all right?, Will the sound system work?) trail a bit aimlessly around. They watch the hustle and bustle of preparations in the amphitheatre, in the grass, in the sun.
The black bridge is waiting. The paint still wet yesterday (you can hear the sound of planks getting off the shoe soles) is now completely dry.
Will they walk on it?
Will they stay on their side?
And which side is theirs?
Still a few hours more to go and not even one answer. You just have to wait a bit. Enjoy the place, space, quiet and the lake.
And then, suddenly, the evening draws near. Dressed in black, in dark colours: these are the inhabitants of the Village. Just in front of the manor house a colourful crowd gathers: they are the guests. Quite many have arrived.
All are made welcome by Krzysztof Czyżewski. He introduced them to the Mystery of the Invisible Bridge. - In our understanding and in the way we have learnt it during these few days, the bridge tries to capture all that is important and necessary to cross it over and get to the other side, to meet the Other, ant not to omit anything or anybody - he says. - Therefore, it is so important to benefit from the place here, from the sounds, music, nature and the tale, all that has assumed its shape slowly during the whole year and during the last week, comes from the total of this element.
And the element has drawn in everybody gathered here. Dusk had already set in when they took their places in silence, waiting in the darkness for things to happen.
First, they felt the smell of incense. It drifted from the bowls which the actors of the today's mystery carried before them descending onto the middle of the stage.
Then, they heard the rustle of leaves and grating of tree trunks. It was the movement of the swings going higher and higher And children on the swings. The sound becomes louder and louder, reminds of a flock of croaking crows. On the other side, behind the bridge, a girl all dressed in white begins her march. She pulls a thread from a woven circle, walks towards the audience, just a moment and she will enter the bridge.
Her progress is interrupted by a noise. Metallic, unbearable sound runs through the whole amphitheatre. It's getting louder and louder, the sound resembles gunshots. The girl falls down. The bowls and vessels with incense hit the bridge and break.
And again, there's music, but different one. This one does cause any agitation. And through it, first in the background, the tales of adults appear. The adults who are now seesawed by children. Somebody shouts about the bridge that he could not cross over, somebody else about his missing mum, about fear, about border guards depriving one of dignity, about war. The polyphony blurs into a strange lament.
As it dies down, it is replaced by a choir. Its song sounds quite clear. Even if there was no other shore... they repeat a few times, sometimes loud, sometimes quietly. Before they finish the audience focus their eyes onto the middle of the stage. Some women work under a woven curtain - two adults and two girls. They keep weaving as if unmoved, or perhaps suspended between all elements of the performance. Just like the words describing what bridge is, the definitions created by children, Masters and Village builders, they get interwoven in the final part of the Mystery. The messages that we would like to leave to our spectators, flow in different languages. Perhaps, it is one and the same message told in universal signs: bridge means connection. Understanding. And its construction is an effort which has to be undertaken to reach to another man.
When the music has died down completely, the lights slowly go dim until it's completely dark.