Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and Productiehuis Rotterdam in collaboration with Cinérama Filmtheater (Rotterdam) present a special film screening of Alexandre Singh’s The Humans on Sunday 25 May 2014 (6 – 9 pm).
The Humans, the first play written and directed by Alexandre Singh, commissioned by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, premiered to critical acclaim at the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam (September 2013) and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York (November 2013, during Performa13) with positive reviews in a variety of media including the New York Times and Art in America magazine. The Humans is being presented from 5 to 9 July 2014 as part of the official selection of the 2014 Festival d’Avignon in the Lycée Gymnase Aubanel. Alexandre Singh also designs the official poster of the 68th Festival d’Avignon. For more information, please click here.
The Humans tells the story of two spirits named Tophole and Pantalingua, who would rather see the Earth not created. The work is modeled on the comic writings of Aristophanes and set during the dawn of time and space. In a battle against the egomaniacal Creator, Tophole and Pantalingua conspire their way to an accidental Paradise Lost, ultimately corrupting the eponymous humans being portrayed as a vast, songful, and statuesque Greek chorus into the flawed mortals we are today.
It is a play filled with references to theater, literature, television and film, visual arts and music from different times. Within its classical theatrical structure, the play deals in a contemporary way with ancient questions related to life and death, religion and love.
PROGRAM:
6 pm: Introduction by Alexandre Singh
6.10 – 9 pm: Screening of The Humans
This event is organized in collaboration with Cinerama Filmtheater (Rotterdam).
Alexandre Singh was invited by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, to develop The Humans at Witte de With from April 2012 to January 2013, after which he continued to work on the play in Rotterdam. Singh shared and developed his research and production through public presentations of his work-in-progress centered around thematic monthly public events at Witte de With, titled Causeries. During these public conversations Singh looked at topics ranging from cosmology and cosmogony to satire, theatrical costumes, and scatology as well as key inspirational figures such as Aristophanes, Alexander Pope, P.G. Wodehouse, William Hogarth, John Ruskin, South Park and Woody Allen, resulting in this full-fledged theatrical account of the universe’s creation. For more information, please click here.
Credit
The Humans is commissioned by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and Performa. The Humans is co-produced by Preromanbritain LLC.; Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art; Productiehuis Rotterdam; Rotterdamse Schouwburg and Performa 13. It is presented in partnership with Festival De Keuze, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and the 68th Festival d’Avignon.