APOCALYPARTY
“ApocalyParty" Performance
What is the performance about?
This is our ironic reflection on the end of the world, which, judging by world events, is getting closer while people play with rules and prohibitions.
Director's decision for the project
Since everything in the world is relative, what happens on stage is relative. Therefore, we abandoned the decorations, replacing them, as in the old theater from Shakespeare’s time, with signs reading “bonfire”, “beach”, “palm trees” and so on. An important part of the performance, however, was the lighting of the stage, which also carried a metaphorical meaning.
Walking straight onto the stage, the audience found themselves on a virtual “beach”, where they were greeted by 4 performers wearing Hawaiian necklaces.
4 non-professional actresses took part in the performance. Each of them symbolized one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Horsewomen, in our case.
The audience did not know about the roles of the performers, each of whom played with the audience a simple children’s game, referring to the role of one of the Horsemen. All this time, a video of a clock referencing the Doomsday Clock was projected on the wall of the auditorium.
At the end of the performance, the countdown stopped, and a quote about the Coming of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse was heard, voiced by a neurovoice. DJ Apocalypse turned on his set, videos of explosions were broadcast on the walls of the auditorium, and the Horsewomen began to dance, destroying all the paper “scenery” as a symbol of the purification of the world. The spectators who wanted to dance joined in the dance.
Why this particular topic?
Events occurring in the world, such as wars, rejection of people because of their gender, skin color or other characteristics, as well as environmental disasters, disturb us. We started from the Paris lecture of the philosopher Vladimir Bibikhin on the Apocalypse. In the lecture, the philosopher expressed the idea that the Apocalypse is already happening gradually, and that perhaps the attitude towards it needs to be reconsidered. Developing the idea, we came to a production that, through children’s games and a “naive” but ironic form, speaks about important things.