Are we not drawn onward to new erA

You’ve never seen anything like this before.  The stage opens with a small tree planted in some dirt.

In an allegory to Adam and Eve, there is an apple in the tree, which a male character plucks and offers to a woman. They speak sparingly, but it is in a kind of gibberish that has a Scandinavian feel to it.

Other characters walk on an off in strange ways. The unspoiled Garden of Eden is slowly spoiled. It starts with branches being torn off, and a pot plant getting smashed. Soon the stage is in chaos filled with plastic bags and an oppressive looking monument is constructed.

It is a bleak view of civilisation destroying a planet which we are all familiar with.

The performance art by Belgium theatre maker Ontroerend Goed is described as a palindromic call to action.  The title Are we not drawn to a new erA can be read backwards and forwards.

Without revealing the theatrical effect (which is done brilliantly) the second half of the piece is more hopeful.  It is fascinating to watch, beautiful and entertaining.  Miraculously the gibberish becomes decipherable.

The audience reaction was mixed – awe and wonder at a very unique stage production – but I also overhead in the lobby a yearning for a more complex narrative and a less naïve solution. 

The sonic soundscape for the production is from The Disintegration Loops by avant-garde composer William Basinski. It comprises noise and cracks created by tape loops of sounds being transferred from analogue to digital format. The composer said he finished the work on September 11, 2001, whilst watching the twin towers collapse.

It was a haunting soundscape to a haunting night in the theatre.

David Spicer

Photographer: Victor Frankowski