The 12th Physical Theater Festival brings the world to Chicago

Physical Theater Festival Chicago, now in its12th year, is proving to be an

indispensable resource for introducing international theatre ensembles to Chicago

audiences. It also supports local artists with its annual Scratch Night, a curated

program of short works, and Being Made in Chicago, a program that features work in

development by previous Scratch Night performers.

For folks hungry for a Chicago equivalent to the Edinburgh Fringe – this appetizer-sized

festival will take the edge off.

The 2025 lineup featured the Chicago debut of “Un Poyo Roja” from Argentina. This

two-man show was one of the most entertaining and virtuosic performances I’ve ever

seen. It’s dance, improvisation, comedy and theatre and perfectly embodies the type of

work the festival is keen to give a platform to.

When the audience enters the space, we see a locker room on the stage, and two men

in the middle of intense calisthenic workouts, sweating through their clothes and

breathing heavily. The lights dim for the start of the show, and when they come up, the

performers, Alfonso Barón and Luciano Rosso, are standing downstage facing the

audience, their breathing synchronized. The hand gestures, and isolated body

movements that follow are also in perfect synchronization. They resemble Olympic

athletes with their physical power and exquisitely coordinated choreography – and it

becomes quickly apparent they are gifted in ballet and martial art techniques, and also

possess a vaudevillian’s talent for physical mimicry and comic timing.

The 60-minute performance is composed of flowing vignettes that play with ideas of

masculine competition and romantic seduction. They compete as animals – most

memorably ice sliding walruses and roosters in a cockfight. They also attempt to slay

each other, and the audience, as strutting, high heeled, long-haired divas.

After the animal and diva battles, the two retreat to the locker room to change – which

begins an incredible sequence of improvisational clowning. As Barón adjusts a large

portable radio, scrolling through the band of Chicago radio stations in real time – Rosso

reclines sensually to light a cigarette, and is swept up by the changing rhythms and

moods of the assorted news bulletins and snatches of music. Rosso’s cigarette

becomes two dancing walrus-like tusks, then three, four and upwards of 10 or more, as

the cigarettes swish to the beat of the music and fill every orifice in his face. We even

see him consider Barón’s backside as a potential location to plug another cigarette.

The duo changes into wrestling togs in an amusingly physical way, Barón in white and

Rosso in red, which allows their long simmering battle to find its fullest range of

expression in gladiator-like combat.

Another incredible sequence is when their body parts stick to each and they fight to

release themselves from being stuck shoulder to shoulder, head to armpit, even mouth

to mouth, in an extreme, ultimate wrestling style version of a Twister game.

The duo has been working on “Un Poyo Rojo” for more than 15 years and it shows.

Barón and Rosso had Chicago’s opening night audience eating from their hands a mere

minutes after the performance began.

Also featured in the 2025 Physical Theater Festival was the Chicago debut of

Ephemeral Ensemble’s “Rewind,” an international company composed of artists from

Brazil, Columbia, Iceland and the U.K.

Their devised ensemble piece draws on the forced disappearance of South Americans

who protested against the military dictatorship of the 1970s and human rights abuses

between 2019 and 2021.

A live score performed by a versatile musician alternating between guitar, flute and

trumpet forms the backbone of a work that aims to honor the mothers who would not

allow their children to be forgotten by history. It also recognizes the forensic

anthropologists who recovered the dead for their relatives and the historical record.

Ephemeral Ensemble employ puppetry, lights, visual effects and movement to create an

immersive spectacle that serves as a ritual for the dead. As my theater companion

stated, this ensemble has created a moving and personalized version of “Antigone.”

I can’t wait to see what the Physical Theater Festival Chicago will be cooking up for the

2026 edition.

Physical Theater Festival Chicago runs June 2 through 8 at Theater Wit at 1229 W

Belmont Avenue in Chicago. For tickets and more information visit

www.physicalfestival.com.

For more reviews go to https://www.theatreinchicago.com