To Kingdom Come
‘As the curtain lifts on ‘To Kingdom Come’ there is an unshakeable sense something transpired. An event that connects the twelve performers in their memory and make up. This setting shines a light on these situations and relationships, as the work is held and taken hold by their personal experiences within, their stories slowly laid bare. From mother to child, from lover to stranger. A generation sharing an experience, exposing the deeper layers and complexity of humanity and its enduring survival. By using a landscape as a metaphor for both our internal world and external triggers that lie beyond, the work hopes to explore how trauma can take hold in different ways, showing its potential reach and the moment our masks are put to rest. Where beauty can be born in the worst of circumstances, with a spark of hope that enables compassion and empathy to oneself and the other. How when everything is burned to the ground, do we choose to rebuild ourselves?’
To Kingdom Come is created in close collaboration with the artist of GoteborgOperans Danskompani and premiered in Gothenburg, Sweden in the program ‘Touched’.
Credits
Choreography / Concept / Direction: Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal
Music: Amos Ben-Tal & Ry Cuming (RY X)
Dramaturgy & Assistant Choreography: Xanthe van Opstal
Set Design: Tom Visser, Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal
Costume Design: Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal
Light Design: Tom Visser
Performers: Arika Yamada, Rachel McNamee, Benjamin Behrends, Mei Chen, Nathan Chipps, Viola Esmeralda Grappiolo, Mai Lisa Guinoo, Logan Hernandez, Riley O’Flynn, Auguste Palayer, Duncan C Schultz, Zenon Zubyk
Duration: ca 60 minutes
Premiere: GoteborgOperans Danskompani, 2023
Media
‘Imre and Marne van Opstal’s “To kingdom come” is a visually strong and convincing work. – The overwhelmingly powerful and luminous disk, which, in addition to shifting in color, is used to create both a protective and terrifying place, where it hangs above a ring-like oval filled with finely shredded cork, becomes a strong image that will be etched in the memory for a long time. In a drama that seems to be about life or death, it also appears as a place of reconciliation and consolation. The oscillation between the embracing and the distanced is also found in the partially expressive choreography where a lift can be turned into its opposite in an instant. And where a falling body can be quickly revived.’ – Svenska Dagbladet