In “Dry Wood from Babylon” the directing can hardly be felt; the textual model is followed with pure act. The play offers theatrical esthetics, not real pictures from real life. That’s that.

But what is the story?

Two people and a kid tell stories to each other.

The characters are: a lonely walker by the river, a man that’s gone old before his time, and a child. Despair is the worst enemy of art, but “Dry wood from Babylon” is running away from despair, from telling sad stories. It touches our consciousness, alerts us, for if we want to know where we are going, we must know where we started from. The dry wood won’t blossom if we don’t know where, why and how it got dry. Bakevski’s metaphorical text uses known symbols and directions. It is precious because plays of the absurd are a rarity in our theatrical tradition.

The set is almost empty; a dry wood, a bench, a clothespin.

There aren’t any luxurious lights and lasers; the act is almost in darkness; and the music discreetly strengthens the tension of the action.

The play resembles a puzzle, with precisely assembled parts. But, without the magnificent performance of the actors, it would have collapsed like the Tower of Babylon. In a Becket-like atmosphere, Bakevski brings together Robert Veljanovski, Nino Levi and Goran Trenchovski...