Jake Mace
We’re counting down to Prague Fringe by shining a light on a number of shows headed to the festival next week. Ofelia Grey is the performer of Cafe de Profundis – A Surreal Portrait of a Circus Artist, described as a colourful storm of emotions, memories and adventures that invites us to feel the Don Quixotian fire to fight for the unrealistic ideals of beauty, love and magic. We caught up with Ofelia for a pixelated pint to dive into this intriguing show.
You can catch Cafe de Profundis – A Surreal Portrait of a Circus Artist as part of Prague Fringe from May 29th to 31st at various times at Malostranská beseda – Klub. Tickets are available through the Prague Fringe Box Office.
Jake: Hi Ofelia! You describe your show as a colourful storm of emotions, memories, adventures. Tell us what the audience can expect.
Ofelia: Cafe de Profundis is an autobiographical surrealist play. All the characters, scenes and symbols in the show are directly taken from my own life and elevated to a theatrical state that distorts reality, makes it saturated, exaggerated and therefore absurd.
From my past showings of this play I have the knowledge that the audience can expect to be amused, inspired, touched and a tiny bit terrified. If there’s one thing that Cafe de Profundis has in abundance – it’s intensity.
Jake: Tell us a little bit about your artistic process and how you developed your creative voice.
Ofelia: Ever since I was a kid, art and beauty were the most important things to me. My whole life I’ve been finding ways to express my thoughts and emotions through different media of art, be it painting, dancing, writing, filmmaking, circus, music, puppetry, drama, mime, costume design…I tried everything I could get my hands on. I keep trying. I think that’s my meaning of life – to continue searching for beauty, inside and outside, following my heart driven by curiosity and hunger for the elevated reality.
That’s what Cafe de Profundis is. It is a mash up of all of my skills used to portray this worldview that I have with as much honesty and sensitivity as I can muster.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Ofelia: I wish to inspire the people that come to watch my show. Inspire to look for beauty inside and outside themselves.
Inspire to shed their armour from time to time and walk into the world with that dangerous naivety that allows one to be susceptible to taking unnecessary risks and experiencing new parts of reality and appreciating the beauty of it without worrying about the consequences, because as Oscar Wilde said, “life is too important to be taken seriously.”
Jake: Tell us about how the show has ended up being performed at Prague Fringe, and what you’re most excited for about the festival.
Ofelia: As I was doing my research for the places to perform Cafe de Profundis, Prague Fringe was on the top of my list from the very beginning. Honestly, I’ve never participated in any Fringe festival before and that’s as good a reason as any to do that. However, my love for Prague is the real reason I was so eager to be part of the festival. Bringing my solo show to this beautiful city equals an extravagant bouquet of flowers on a date.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Ofelia: It would most likely be a cup of strong black coffee with a drop of psilosybin in it. Quite obvious, isn’t it? It’s a show set in a cafe and has flying fish, talking mocha machine, a moon controlled by a scary white lady and a crazy little witch in it…
A reminder, you can catch Cafe de Profundis – A Surreal Portrait of a Circus Artist as part of Prague Fringe from May 29th to 31st at various times at Malostranská beseda – Klub. Tickets are available through the Prague Fringe Box Office.
Elisabeth Flett
Freddie Haberfellner
