UTVrijhof CultureUpcoming activities[CANCELLED] The Gaia Hypothesis
© Benning en Gladkova

[CANCELLED] The Gaia Hypothesis Firma MES/Lindertje Mans icw Roald van Oosten

UNFORTUNATELY THIS PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. EVERYONE WHO HAD BOUGHT A TICKET WILL BE INFORMED.

What does a fish think about the future of humanity? 

In this solo Lindertje Mans invites you into a compelling thought experiment. Together with composer Roald van Oosten she created an intense musical performance, in which she transforms into a deep-sea fish, a space shuttle and a human cell, to tell us about the future of humankind. Portraying these three creatures, she takes us underneath, above, and inside our own world. 

The Gaia Hypothesis is a theory proposed by scientists James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in 1969. They suggested that life on earth will always be possible, and they imagined all living matter on our planet working together as one organism. If we are all part of the same system, maybe we should ask other parts of the system what to do? 

Immerse yourself in an atmosphere where biology and philosophy come together in a theatrical concert full of dark synthpop and spoken word. The audience is taken on a journey through all layers of the universe. A search for intimacy and a new relationship between humankind and its surroundings. 

In The Gaia Hypothesis Lindertje Mans and Roald van Oosten continue their successful collaboration that starter with TECH: The Life And Death Of A Sex Robot in 2019. Stage design and direction are by Thomas Schoots. 

Lindertje Mans studied performance at Toneelacademie Maastricht and music theatre at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. She is co-founder of Dutch theatre collective Firma MES. 

Roald van Oosten is a musician and composer. His music ranges from pop gems to ghostly theatrical soundscapes. He started as lead singer of Indie popband Caesar. In 2019 Roald was commissioned by the National Theatre in London to write music for the play: When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, directed by Katie Mitchell, starring Cate Blanchett. 

Credits

Concept, text, performance:         Lindertje Mans
Songs:                                           Lindertje Mans and Roald van Oosten
Music production, sound design: Roald van Oosten
Stage design, direction:               Thomas Schoots

Press on The Life And Death Of A Sex Robot:

Lindertje Mans and composer Roald van Oosten created a sizzling one-woman-robot-opera. In mechanical sounding, but sultry songs (think: Lana del Rey) Mans, as sex robot Robin, sings about intimacy, loneliness and modern alienation. (...) Her performance is scary and fascinating at the same time, just like the future of artificial intelligence."

**** Volkskrant

Mans’ incredibly well controlled performance makes the distinction between human and programmed object disappear completely, proposing provocative questions about victimisation and perpetration, self-determination, awareness and objectification. (…) Mans’ mini-opera resonates long after it’s over.

NRC

The music for The Life And Death Of A Sex Robot was elected “Best composition for theatre” by Vincent Kouters (Volkskrant) in 2019.