American's multimedia show 'Investment' Davis Freeman is initially reminiscent of Al Gore's PowerPoint show 'An Unconvenient Truth'. Three performers and a projection computer very routinely and in great detail show the audience a whole range of options for investing. Initially sensible and sustainable, but soon whole other motives come into play. Piquant detail: everyone in the audience, together with their ticket, has been given a lottery ticket from the Lotto that will be drawn on this very evening. So everyone is potentially very close to becoming a millionaire.
After presenting a number of charities such as 'Stop Hunger Now', animal welfare funds and tree purchase for CO2 reduction soon comes a reversal. Maybe you should spend it on your own family, or multiply your money into solid-yielding investments like the arms industry or commercial stem cell research.
In the same slick presentation flow, the opportunity to invest in culture is also shown in between. For example, in dance, 'a beautiful universal art form with potential to lift humanity to a higher spiritual plane, although you won't be much wiser financially'. A piece of dance follows as an example, in which the three performers first move laboriously and painfully across the ground as literally downtrodden individuals, but eventually break free of the ground together. A complementary projection cleverly multiplies the ensemble movement of the dancers, including a gleefully disruptive dog jumping in between on screen. This is followed by a production plan to develop this piece into a full-length programme. Investment cost: €100,000.00.
The same happens almost at the end with a proposal for investment in a sky-rocketing play, a piece of which is also played. This 15 minutes of sample theatre is truly of great class. In an ingeniously chosen historical situation, the performers are able to expose deep insights about the relationship of politics, art and civilisation. The piece also starts in ironic idiom, but rises far above itself through impressive acting. This explosion of content is also followed by a dryly worked-out production plan of a tonne.
Finally, the show ends in a runaway presentation of consumption equivalents of yet another tonne in euros: from second homes in Portugal to sports cars and caviar to finally ending in the large volumes of basic necessities, such as clean water, for example.
Despite the obvious ending, the whole show cleverly pushes one to think deeply about the nexus of money, power, individual and culture. Much respect to the makers for distilling from the ubiquitous slick marketing talk an impressive work of art with so much room for thought.
Hans van Dam in conversation with Freeman
'Investment' by Davis Freeman/Random Scream. Seen: Saturday 11 September during Rotterdam Schouwburg's International Choice on location at the old Lantaren/Venster on Gouvernestraat. Still to be seen there on 12 September.
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