WRAPPED -  a theatre piece by Nan Hoover

L’Usine, HetVeem Theater, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sep. 10, 2006

The audience enters a slightly darken theatre - the sound of wind is heard and continues until the end of the piece.

The public sits on tiered seating, the stage is flat. I installed wings on either side of the stage - this is a very traditional theatre as most theatre makers today prefer a flat black box. I used the wings to hide the lamps which are low and the light comes out from either side of the stage. The light graduates from dark blue in the front of the stage and lighter blue towards the back of the stage.

As the public enters, they see forms grouped together that resemble landscape or mountains forms. These forms remain still for six minutes, so the public can absorbe the forms, and very slowly they begin to move by pushing themselves along the floor - some move close to each other, some move apart. They move so slowly that if you look away and return to looking at the forms you find they have moved. These forms remind one of pre-historic animals or icebergs - slowly moving - or breaking up.

After about 30 minutes they begin to move towards centre stage and slowly come to a final position where they stay fixed in the final position. The house lights come up and the public leaves the theatre.
After they have left, the performers come out of the black felt and sit in the first row of the theatre - the public returns, I thank and introduce the public to the performers, and I have a discussion with Rob de Graaf, the well known playwright. We talk together and with the audience.

The magic of never seeing the performers and the silence of the piece I hope triggers the public´s imagination and even perhaps recalls thoughts of our landscape.

Concept / direction / light: Nan Hoover
Light technician: Vinny Jones
Performers: Monica Blok, Suzy Blok, Catherine Henegan, Kaisu Koski, Saskia Meulendijks, Miriam van Oort, Dora Timmers

The material for the performers is black 3 millimeter thick felt. The performance lasts 37 min.