If humanity goes extinct, there has been a woman somewhere who was the last not to have a child. To whom does that honour belong? At the Holland Festival, an ensemble of 12 performers now perform a requiem for that last non-mother. Actress and singer Joy Wielkens is the exceptionally disarming high priestess in this at times quite heavy evening, in which the end of times is brought very close.
The project A Play for the living in a time of extinction, to be seen at Amsterdam's Frascati theatre thanks to the Holland Festival, is remarkable in several ways. Not least, this is because all the electrical energy during the show is generated not by burning amoebas that died out 3 billion years ago and have since been pressure-fermented into oil and gas, but by the players themselves, via mechanical power.
Although it may well have been smuggled in for the very welcome air conditioning on this record hot evening in June. Hopefully there are solar cells on Frascati's roof.
Never fly again
The idea sprung from internationally renowned theatre maker Katie Mitchell. She made the laudable decision a few years ago not to fly anymore. Because she is an in-demand maker, with many international festivals at her feet, her performances now travel the world without her, as concept and text, by email. Local makers she gives a free hand to implement her ideas. That saves a lot of air miles and exhaust gas, and so all the energy can be put into the production, which should also not cost outside energy.
In this case, it was up to director Floor Houwink ten Cate and opera composer and singer Annelinde Bruijs to adapt the text translated by Jibbe Willems to their own liking. As own contribution was also possible, Joy Wielkens' input is quite noticeable. After all, it is her monologue, in which she links climate change and white supremacy.
A kind of clockwork
In form, the performance is a kind of clockwork, propelled by the chorus of women, accompanied by minimal percussion. The clockwork also serves as the dynamo for the light. Without their effort, the performance plays in darkness. A beautiful idea.
It is an interesting question, though, whether the blame for the climate catastrophe and accompanying repentance still matters in delaying the now unavoidable end. On this sinking Titanic, it may be better to stand together at the pumps than to fight each other to the death, although these days that is falling on deaf (sic) ears. Perhaps it is better to take action now by treading water and, as Katie Mitchell does: no more flying.
Breezy south wind
Unfortunately, the sweltering south wind forced Schiphol to open the wrong runway. All the air traffic passed over the packed terraces in Amsterdam's city centre. The noise of a relentless stream of (holiday) planes made any conversation on the streets about the climate and this show impossible.
Someday the anthropocene, the era when humans triggered a mass extinction of plants and animals, will be reduced to a one-tenth of a millimetre thick layer of rock with a slightly radioactive signature. So before that happens, there will have to be some furious fighting against the dying of light.
Good to knowAlso read the other recnsion on this piece:
Persuasive theatre on theatre about climate crisis - A play for the living in a time of extinction
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