Slightly queasy and with shaky legs, I leave the corridor in which I have just been Eight of Michel van der Aa have experienced. 'Did you follow the circuit in those high heels?' a Holland Festival staff member asks incredulously. Indeed, I had better left my pumps at the entrance. The mixed reality project Eight will have its world premiere at Music Building on the IJ. - Sturdy footwear recommended!
Eight is the latest addition to Michel van der Aa's ever-expanding tribe of cross-border musical theatre. Previously, he was very successful with the 3D opera Blank Out and the virtual song cycle The Book of Sand. In Eight he takes us for 15 minutes through a dream world full of hallucinatory images and sonorous music. Only 40 visitors a day - in as many timeslots - can take a purely individual journey through the installation.
Done
Upon entering a corridor of white cloth, a staff member provides me with virtual reality goggles and headphones. As soon as I enter the illuminated path, I am face to face with an elegant old lady. Intrusively, she looks at me, then lures me further into the corridor with a hand gesture. As she seemingly removes a speck of dirt from her high, she suddenly transforms into the guise of Kate Miller-Heidke.
With her pure voice, the Australian soprano sings lovely melodies to somewhat disturbing lyrics. Van der Aa often taps into turbulent depths of unprocessed emotions in a nightmarish atmosphere. 'I hear time falling, my breathing happens - it's not mine' sounds suddenly from a deep abyss. Slightly dizzy, I peer down at Heidke, in an environment of flying rocks.
Psychedelic sounds
Just as unexpectedly, it transforms into an idyllic park landscape and a dark water cave. Psychedelic sounds and low rumbling drones create a menacing atmosphere at odds with the angelic singing of Heidke and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. Their beautiful, layered tones of sound strongly recall the music of Blank Out. I also regularly hear the breaking twigs so characteristic of Michel van der Aa. And there's even the twilight lamp from Up-Close! However, my hand disappears into thin air as soon as I try to touch it.
I know I am on solid ground, but don't follow Heidke on her walk across rickety planking. Suddenly, she steps right through me and lures me to a terrace overlooking the mountains. 'There's something flowing that I can't grasp. A man on a terrace accidentally falls.' Again, I stand wavering rather than join her on the balustrade. - After which, for the second time, she walks inexorably through me.
Angry outside world
The elderly lady (Vakil Eelman) returns. She spreads a sheet over a table, under which a little girl (Livia Kolk) is hiding. When she beckons me, I crawl under the red cloth and join her. 'Shadows that motion this illusion. Just for tonight make me a child again,' she sings as shadows circle us. For a moment I actually imagine myself in my childhood, when simple props had to keep the evil outside world at bay. Then a swarm of red lights swoops in front of me and the music abruptly ends.
As in much of his work, Michel van der Aa cuts into Eight universal themes. In this production, his fascination with impermanence, young/old; life/death, reveals itself once again. The three ladies are, of course, one and the same person, whose life story is told 'in reverse order'.
Eight is a mind-blowing experience that turns your sense of space and time quite upside down. Set, music and performance are ear and eye-catching, it is technologically incredibly clever what Van der Aa and his team perform. But however lifelike it looks, you remain aware of its virtual character. Moreover, there is no real drama: those few shadows and ominous verses are not enough to touch you emotionally.
In short: Eight admittedly lacks the impact of Blank Out but is aesthetically very rewarding.
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