When 2020 became a global memento mori and shut theatres down everywhere, theatre collective Nineties Productions developed their immersive online ritual Memento Mori. At Memento Mori, you could mourn for everything that was no longer there: unexpected encounters, the touch of skin or the certainty of a steady income. You may let your tears flow for the passage of time and long lost loved ones. In this online resort we dwell on the passage of everything. Memento Mori is a live constructed theatrical and virtual meeting place, a cross-over between performance, dance, music, poetry and web-art. An immersive ritual as a tribute to the transience of mankind.
The play was constructed 100% live, attended by a few physical guests, but mostly made for and watched through Zoom by an online audience. The on-site guests watched the same live recording on big screens, but were also privy to the construction of the visuals through the green-screened, green-clad performers. Luckily, the virtual audience also got glimpses of the making-of through little technical or performative mishaps, emphasising the live-ness of this theatre that might otherwise be mistaken for a slick tv-production.
“At Memento Mori the virtual audience is on the front-row.”
NRC
Credits
- Concept by: Nineties Productions
- Performance by: Yannick Noomen, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Maya Mertens, Marius Mensink, Christiaan Verbeek
- Co-direction by: Anne Maike Mertens, Floor Houwink ten Cate
- Costume design by: Esmée Thomassen
- Scenography and light by: Julian Maiwald
- Choreography by: Josephine van Rheenen
- Technical production by: Floris Vermist
- Video design by: Karl Klomp
- Sound tech by: Sam Jones, Rinse de Jong
- Production by: Minjon Olgers, Sam Kosterman