The Crumb Trail

I saw this play last night in Düsseldorf. It was put on by this Irish acting troup called Pan Pan Theatre, I think. I'm mostly telling you that so you can try your luck Googling it later. The story of the play itself wasn't particularly clear, but that didn't seem to be the point of it. I think their intention was to give us something to chew on and to present it in a provocative, aesthetic manner.

I can't formulate my own ideas, so I'm going to take some from the programme:

The piece is a sort of detective story, sharp and blunt. Detecting where we are at - but in the dark. No crime has taken place - or it has and we haven't noticed or simply don't care - but there is an overwhelming sense of foreboding. Fear, panic, stress, crisis....

Stuttering. Due to our vast stores of Panic within us. Some of us mangage to have some control over the amount of panic within us. We use religion, stories...

In The Crumbtrail the constant challenge of making the performance is passed on to the spectator. Possibilites are always more important. Searching out mechanisms of perception rather than creating effigies of supposed reality. Playing with views and illsions connecting diverse media, putting performers, objects and meterials into a new perspective again and again....

I personally enjoyed the musical interludes. And the many projectors laying around and the different ways they played with them.

It was a small venue and not very crowded. I made eye contact with some of the actors more than once. That's never comfortable. They were probably wondering, "What the hell is that girl doing wearing that huge orange coat? She looks like a boob. Maybe she's Dutch."

They also have YouTube videos (Pan Pan, I mean. I don't mean Hellbenders or anything. In fact, I don't believe they can opperate video cameras. They lack opposable thumbs.), I think, if you care to look.