A Masque for the Multiverse

by laborgras

Premiere: December 29th, 2024 | Radialsystem
Further Performances: December 30th - 31th | Radialsystem

In their new performance, “A Masque for the Multiverse”, which premieres at Radialsystem at the turn of the year, the ensembles laborgras and CONTINUUM combine the music of contemporary American composer Shara Nova with the “Masques” by William Lawes from the 17th century.

With an unconventional spatial concept and for an audience in motion, the dancers and musicians devise the contemporary version of a masque: a revolutionary and historically extraordinary event with music and dance at the court of James I and Charles I in London. Part costume party, part participatory musical theatre show, these evenings were celebrated quite openly under a homosexual or queer banner. Composers such as Henry and William Lawes, largely unknown today, wrote the music for these very colourful, emotionally overloaded happenings and created a kind of proto-basis for the camp culture of today. In her cycle of works titled “You Us We All” for baroque instruments and vocals, composer Shara Nova from Detroit explores the fluid boundary between contemporary and baroque music.

Despite the 400-year distance between the composers, their works, aesthetics and performance practices reveal unexpected parallels. Across eras, both deal with themes of identity and transformation. Their music invites us to broaden our horizons and question the doctrines of everyday life: “What is our life? What purpose does beauty serve?”

With this production, laborgras begins the cycle of works titled “Begegnung” (“Encounter”), which marks the ensemble’s 30th anniversary. It takes up the question of an open society and creates an environment that seeks to counter the everyday with sensuality, irony and wit: a true space of freedom.

Production: laborgras
Funded by: Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.

PHOTOS ©Phil-Dera