'Life must be lived forwards, but it can only be understood backwards' (Kierkegaard)
Like its title, this performance is a palindrome. You will be able to see it forwards and backwards. Because some people believe humanity is moving forward, while others believe the opposite. Some say the world is coming to an end, others call them doomsayers.
No matter who's right, in our quest for progress we have dramatically changed the world we live in. Are our actions irreversible or can we undo them?
The performance presents a visual metaphor for this crucial moment in our future history. It traces the process of humans moving towards their downfall or salvation.
Are we not drawn onward to new erA won the 2019 Fringe First Award and was nominated for the Total Theatre Award in Edinburgh.
'The simplest response to this phenomenal show is just to say, “wow”.'
'This is one of the most beautiful, most intelligent and committed performances Ontroerend Goed has ever made, on the boundary of visual art and theatre, poetry and politics. The piece looks marvelous (but sounds brutally inaccessible) during the first twenty minutes. These, however, are necessary to enable the masterful twist. Only then the performance turns into a clear, miraculous statement about how we threaten to destroy ourselves and our world.'
'An inventive, meticulously choreographed, high artistic commentary on humanity’s collective destruction of the Earth and every person’s responsibility to commit fully to its rehabilitation.'
'A playful, ambiguous work, whose ultimate message could be joyfully optimistic or deeply despairing – and is probably both. It's vitally important theatre that seems perched precariously on our current make-or-break moment, a show that never preaches, yet reveals possibilities, fears and hopes.'