"We are all speeding towards death"
Witness 7 lives lived in fast forward
British-German performance company Gob Squad present their first theater production in Japan at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM].
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Performance artists Gob Squad make their first ever appearance on a Japanese stage!
Gob Squad "Revolution Now!" (2010/Photo: David Baltzer)
In accordance with their own proclamation of "pursuing an intersection of theater, art, media and reality," Gob Squad have been staging experimental performances incorporating media technology in the form of imagery and sound at subway stations, hotel rooms, and other locations at the heart of urban life since the group's formation. Their highly playful and spontaneous works involving spectators that involuntarily become part of "what happens at that time and place" could be classified as "games of setting up dramatic mechanisms in the middle of daily life."
While the artists have consistently appeared on stage as performers and executors in their efforts establishing such "theater" with unpredictable endings in their previous works, "Before Your Very Eyes" marks the first attempt in the group's history to feature children who has joined at the age of 7 - 12 at the beginning of the production instead of the Gob Squad members themselves.
A collaboration with Belgian children
This work was produced as part of a trilogy commissioned by the CAMPO art center in Gent (Belgium) to three groups. The idea behind the project was to send the artists on a mission creating works in a style that they had never previously worked with. In concrete terms, the assignment was to produce works featuring children, but targeting adult audiences.
The members of Gob Squad started working with 14 children selected from among two hundred 7 to 12-year-old applicants in 2009. Over a period of about three years they regularly held workshops, until the work was finally completed.
"Before Your Very Eyes" - Children illustrating the process of growing up and getting old
Gob Squad & CAMPO "Before Your Very Eyes" (Photo: Phile Deprez)
The theme of this work is "growing up and getting old". Still rather far from "getting old", children dressed in punk style attire present a high-speed rendition of a human being's growth up to death, accompanied by music including Queen's hit "Don't Stop Me Now" and a number of other songs. Thanks to the vivid visual contrast, and very Gob Squad-like pop style and sense of humor the work is charged with, "Before Your Very Eyes" has attracted much attention since it was first unveiled in 2011. The piece was nominated for the "Theatertreffen" theater forum in Germany among others, and has been shown at places around the globe including Europe, North America and Australia. This time's event at YCAM will be the first time the piece is performed in Japan.
"Gob Squad Proudly Present real live children"
(roughly translated from a line of the play)
In the workshops during the production process, the Gob Squad members asked the children to the freedom of speech, from personal to world affairs, while at the same time encouraging them to imagine themselves in the future, as in, "What do you think you could do if you were 45 right now?" The bulk of these lines for this piece eventually came together by combining the collected individual episodes and wishes expressed by the children.
In order to maximize the appeal of the resulting dialogues in the play, the group worked out an overly tricky mise en scene including a special, one-way glass-paneled stage set, and the use of videos of the performers (children) filmed back at the time of the workshops.
Post-performance talk event with artists and cast
On both days, there will be a post performance talk after each show. Guests on the first day are the cast and dramaturg Pascale Petralia, while the Gob Squad members appear on the second day*) to review the piece's production process, and answer questions from the audience. At the same time, the "after hour café" is set up in the lobby, where visitors can make use of a special YCAM-developed application to share ideas. We are looking forward to your visit to the talk session and after hour café, both excellent opportunities to chat with artists, performers and other spectators, and thereby gain a deeper insight into the work.
*) via Skype
Gob Squad & CAMPO "Before Your Very Eyes"
Japan Premiere (World Premiere: 2011 April, Berlin HAU1)
Concept, Design & Direction:
Gob Squad (Johanna Freiburg, Sean Patten, Berit Stumpf, Sarah Thom, Bastian Trost & Simon Will)
Produced by:
CAMPO, Gob Squad
Developed with:
Martha Balthazar, Maurice Belpaire, Spencer Bogaert, Zoë Breda, Faustijn De Ruyck, Ramses De Ruyck, Fons Dhossche, Tasja Doom, Gust Hamerlinck, Robbe Langeraert, Zoë Luca, Jeanne Vandekerckhove, Aiko Vanparys & Ineke Verhaegen
Co-produced by:
Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin; FFT Düsseldorf; Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen; NEXT Festival, Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai + Valenciennes, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt; La Bâtie - Festival de Genève (CH)
Organized by: Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
In association with: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education, Flanders Center
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2012
Special support: British Council
Produced by: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]
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