Last night two significant events were celebrated at a packed and enthusiastic Theatre Rotterdam. Firstly, and possibly most significantly, it marked the company’s first production under its new artistic director, Nanine Linning. Secondly, it presented a reprise of Spanish dance and theatre maker Marcos Morau’s spectacular and innovative Cathedral.
Billed as “a wonderful journey into the world of tomorrow and a search for what makes us human”, it explores life in a digital world where being human becomes more and more difficult. Although futuristic it was eccentrically retro, putting one in mind of, say, Orwell’s 1984 or Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
The dystopian world which Morau has created is strangely at odds with the often sublime and always meditative music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt exquisitely played, live in the pit, by Sinfonia Rotterdam. In fact Mr Pärt gets more than the usual credit with the full name of the piece being Cathedral, An Evening with Arvo Pärt.
Establishing both the futuristic and retro aspects, the piece started rather like an old 1950s American black and white sci-fi film with two astronauts (albeit in grey suits) wearing elaborate, rather Heath Robinson helmets exploring what appeared to be an giant asteroid in the middle of the stage. The dark grey suits were ubiquitous throughout the piece giving the impression that people had been robbed of their identity and unique personalities.
The piece seemed to evolve around a baby which, in one of the opening sequences, was fought over by a man and a woman in one of the evening’s few duets. Most of Cathedral was performed by the ensemble but there was another fine, almost romantic duet towards the end. Romantic, but odd as they both disappeared into the asteroid when they were finished.
The action took place on a murky black-box stage with occasional full-height projections on the back wall, the main item of décor being a very long, sort of refectory table. In fact this table was an intrinsic part of my favourite sequence of the evening. A dozen or so dancers sat with bare forearms, elbows on the table, doing a sort of hand-jive rather like a callisthenic Last Supper to a backdrop of two fluffy clouds. There was another beautiful projection of a vapour waterfall. The stage was dimly lit throughout with specific action being highlighted when necessary. I won’t say it was depressing but it created a world in which you would not necessarily want to live.
There was also some clever use of life-size puppets, sometime indistinguishable from the real dancers as well as two headless giants in raincoats. The baby re-appeared towards the end, wheeled on in a beautiful 1930s art deco pram.
Cathedral was first performed by Scapino in 2019 and is one of the company’s most inventive productions. If you saw it then, you will certainly want to see it again. If you missed it then, I urge you to see it now – you will not see its like again. Innovative theatre at its very best. Michael Hasted 29th November 2024
Photograph by Bart Grietens
Cathedral continues on tour throughout The Netherlands until the end of February.
