Emotion back on stage
Stichting Organisatie Oude Muziek, Utrecht (NL), 2022
Actors’ bodily positions can express emotions as well as arouse them, a bit like music.
Early theatre
The annual Utrecht Early Music Festical offers more than just melody. The exhibition Let’s Talk introduced visitors to the art of gesture as used in early theatre. Though all but forgotten, early theatre is more relevant than ever today, in light of the rise of spoken word performance and neurological research that has shown that bodily positions can not only express emotions but also arouse them.
A world of emotion
With the festival organisation, we developed an exhibition concept that put this form of intangible dramatic heritage back at centre stage. The interactive display, based on the work of the 18th-century theatrical theorist Johannes Jelgerhuis, challenged visitors to reevaluate ideas about how music, theatre and art move people today and how they did so in the past.
OverActing
The exhibition whetted appetites, and in 2022 Stichting Organisatie Oude Muziek asked us to help develop a new theatre festival. OverActing explored the art of gesture in even more depth through a rich mix of theatre, music, research and art. The festival’s first edition, held in Leiden, invited visitors to view contemporary theatre through a different lens.
“(…)In the Janskerk in Utrecht, you could even practise baroquely expressing your own emotions in front of a mirror with the help of instructions”
Mischa Spel, NRC — 29 August 2021
Credits
Client
Organisatie Oude MuziekContent design
Studio Louter