Story
How we arrived
Silence
Silence always arrives when it’s time. In 2008, there was Silence. The world saw the start of an economic crisis, but it was suddenly lovely and quiet for us. That is where the theatre story of Polygon began, suddenly. Indeed, suddenly – for there was no time given to think it over or weigh the options. The founders of Polygon, Tamur Tohver and Tarvo Krall, had both become tired from working on large projects and various international creative endeavours. Most of all – despite the beautiful results, thrilling events and flattering feedback – we sensed in our current work an enormous loss of energy and waste of resource. In people, money, time, ideas. In soul. Why constantly prove oneself and somehow try to convince someone? They no longer wanted that kind of life, it wasn’t difficult to let go of that approach. Meanwhile, it was far from straightforward letting go of what had been, the customs of theatre and the developed notions … The Vocation of Life remained, the message was still there, but facing the unknown and the question: what will it be like, this new Life? How will it all begin to form? In a way, there also existed the possibility of that’s enough with theatre now, surely the world has many other exciting things to offer. And yet – Tamur thought – I just want to do this one more piece, to settle the heart. And called on his life-long friend to help. There was no plan to start a theatre company. There was no plan at all.
Sensation
They wished for no longer having to prove that small is beautiful. Sensitive. Calm. Balanced. Impellent and expansive. Not in slogans but in essence: human to human. Not top-down or bottom-up. Horizontally and simply. Sincerely, soulfully, intimately and precisely. We believed – if we like this new and sincere, there ought to be at least another hundred or so people who will enjoy it as well. That makes about three or four sets of audience. Theatre is not a performing art. It is a message from one person to another. A touch, not exactly a push. You choose the direction. The silence was very welcome. There was a wish to carry and share a message. There was a wish to touch. There was plenty of free time and a piece of text that spoke of coldness, about the abyss of perpetuity between people. Having sat in Tamur’s desk drawer for exactly a decade since he first heard it, in Berlin. It was Kristian’s The Frozen Images (Jääkuvia). That became the first production of Polygon Theatre. They performed in a cold former boilerhouse where lights could be reflected significant effect off the puddles of rainwater on the concrete floor – as the roof was leaking. The actors came, and the audiences came. They didn’t plan on starting a new theatre so that they could do something cardinally different, unique, seismic. Now, like then, Polygon wish to simply tell stories of ourselves. Recount People and create an Event. For all of that is in the air and waiting for you, that moment of being downloaded from the Cloud. To bring the clouds to earth and take you into the Cloud. For the Sensation to be vivid. And they knew they had to step out of the theatre building.
Awakening
In fact, we don’t have to constantly choose. Waiting can sometimes be just as beautiful as opening the door. The moment when you realise that the reflections you have been making actually do carry light forward. It is the realisation of having chosen something without making a choice. Having been called into life, if you like. Trust has been put in You, and You have justified that trust. As we then sensed there might be about a hundred kindred spirits around, we soon realised there are about a thousand. Thus, we are often by the door ourselves as well on a show night, to greet and to offer our thanks later. Awakening is not the mere realisation that what you are doing is Your Thing, what You’ve been called to do or why You have been given this opportunity. As you realise, that this is right, healing and empowering, a necessary activity reaching beyond the limits of your individual world, at the same moment as you awaken into this realisation, you also realise – this is not an obligation and a way of life, but freedom to choose: You don’t have to go down this path. You don’t have to see everything through to the end and let it suffocate You like a noose. You can stop at any moment! And that knowledge gives it all power! The freedom to stop, do different. Breathe easy.
Light
This is why people come to us time and again. Because this knowledge carries all that You do and makes the whole endeavour Breathe. All these years. All these people: in the auditorium, the studio, students, teachers, visitors, parents. Our people. Own people and their stories. Let go of three things: to find out, to be someone and to become happy. The first desperately holds on to everything in the effort to have control. The second waits for life to get the medal, title and rank, and the third waits for acclaim through the first two. Polygon is a place of many opportunities. A platform. A landscape with hills and valleys – not of highs and lows, but bright peaks and deep realisations. To bring out the balance in You. To awake through Your own creativity. When we had a look back the year after our theatre had made its first production, it was clear that together with the Theatre there needs to be a Theatre School. The people teaching there must themselves go on stage every now and then, and go to school every now and then. Everything that happens on the real stage, every experience, will thus make it to the Classroom. The learning stage. Everything that is discovered in the rehearsal room and in the theatre lesson, will make it to the toolkit of the professional actor. And that is how many of our productions have been born, professionals and students on stage together, in one story. That is how the Zero Zone Praxis has been born – the technique of the interrelationship between actor and director to create a deeper relationship and communion between stage and audience, on a journey in higher consciousness. In complete absorption into each other, the Event, the Message and the Miracle! Thus, together we make the appeal for our Room to never be empty. We bow to you, because Everything circulates, always. Harmony.
