Betroffenheit – Vancouver Premiere
February 25 – 27, 2016, 8pm
Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton Street)
Two of Canada’s most ground-breaking performing arts companies have come together to create Betroffenheit, an innovative, boundary-stretching hybrid of theatre and dance. Betroffenheit is a unique creative collaboration by Kidd Pivot artistic director and choreographer Crystal Pite, and Electric Company Theatre co-artistic director, writer and performer Jonathon Young.
Taking its title from the German word Betroffenheit, it describes a state of shock and bewilderment that encompasses you in the wake of a disaster. Betroffenheit takes you to a timeless, liminal space where you return again and again even as you struggle to gain and maintain distance, and where you keep responding to the disaster long after it has subsided. Here, a crisis-management team is keeping your emergency situation alive and present, a trusted voice is urging you to come to terms with the past, and a steady supply of “The Show” is available for all the distraction, escape and pleasure you crave. In one sense you’re the survivor and this is your refuge. In another, you’re the disaster waiting to happen.
