Two adults and a child
On stage: two adults and a child, unrehearsed, invited anew for every show. The child, on headphones, seems to be in charge. The adults copy the movements of children they see on screens around them. This puppet-like dance illustrates the stories, songs and dreams selected and whispered by the voices of yet more children as useful examples of vulnerability or surprise. Who are these kids?
‘A generation of several million abandoned children, impossibly wise, good at saying ‘no’, heroes with an uncertain future who made an automatic theatre-machine for dealing with a screen-entranced adult world.’
• Ant Hampton is known for automated structures (autoteatro) and non-rehearsed performative situations. He has already appeared in Kaaitheater’s programme with The Extra People, Crazy But True and The Quiet Volume. Together with Kaai resident Christophe Meierhans, he also created the automatic workshop The THING.
concept, text, music, sound Ant Hampton | two adults Sigrid Vinks, Gustavo Miranda / Philippe Beloul & Fumiyo Ikeda and a child Alma Downey / Nika Van Gijsel | video design / lighting / technical direction Mikko Gastael (Expander) | dramaturgy Rita Pauls | artistic / choreographic assistance Anna Rispoli | voices in the speakers Mia Hampton, Maxim Daish-Belay, Ines Labbé | bodies on the screens Ishaq El Akul, Dora Meierhans, Garil Paturel, Laia Vaissier Craviotto | French translation Rita and Alan Pauls | Dutch translation Elisa Demarré | with thanks to Darren O’Donnell for quotes from Haircuts by Children and Other Evidence for a New Social Contract (Coach House books, 2017) | production and management Danila - Freitag, Agentur für Performative Künste | production assistant Anna Chwialkowska | co-production Kaaitheater, ZeitRaumExit,Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne | with thanks for the kind support Britt Hatzius, Martin Hampton, Caroline Daish, Fred Labbé, Michele Piazzi, Nerea Craviotto, Julien Vaissier | supported by the Landesverband Freie Tanz- und Theaterschaffende Baden-Württemberg e.V.,NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ Koproduktionsförderung Tanz | with funds from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media | excerpts of music and text by Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, Jean Constantin, ee cummings, Alan Pauls, New Order, Leonard Cohen | with thanks to guest performers during testing Peggy Donnelly, Emiliano Battista, Leandro Battista, Misha and Alma Downey, Martine Lange, Katja Dreyer, Dolores Hulan, Lucius Romeo-Fromm, Chris Harrison-Kerr, James Axford, Klara De Cock Jones, Christophe Meierhans | first stage research with assistance from Nora Tormann (dramaturgy), Arantxa Martinez, Anna Rispoli and Dora Meierhans (movement) and Timo Kleinemeier (tech), managed by Ana Riscado and supported by Theater Rampe Stuttgart and Fonds Darstellende Künste (Initialförderung) with funds from the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
€10/13/16/19/22
23/09: boventitels in het Nederlands
24/09: boventitels in het Frans