As part of the Jetlag series from PACT Zollverein and Siemens Arts Program, Forced Entertainment will perform the rarely seen durational version of their celebrated work Speak Bitterness at PACT in Essen on Saturday 28 February 2009.
“We’re guilty of homemade bombs and homemade wine. We’re guilty of coldness and spite. We never laughed and we never found the time….”
In Speak Bitterness a small group of performers take on the task of confessing to everything. Dressed in their best suits, the performers compete to confess the most horrific, amusing or convincing things. Lined-up as if for a show trial or a press conference, they meet the gaze of the audience, speaking softly, drawing them in and admitting it all.
For the six hour duration of the work the audience are free to come and go as they please while the performers are trapped – by turns cowed, breezy, anguished, reluctant, jovial and of course determined. The text they work from is a constantly updated catalogue of human wrong-doing great and small, from murder, genocide, rape and arson to bad moods, jealous rages, never washing-up properly and not taking the dogs out for a walk.
The performance will be webcast live, and will be performed by the six core-members of Forced Entertainment including Artistic Director, Tim Etchells. The whole company performing together is a rare event and a fitting marker of Forced Entertainment’s 25th anniversary this year.
Tune in here from 5pm-11pm (UK time), 6pm – 12midnight (Mainland Europe).
Recent Comments
Glad you had a good time! I'm afraid I don't remember whether it was an official...
Stephe Harrop
Hotel Medea
Did you go to a press showing maybe, where the audience was bolstered by 'professionals'? I...
Rusty A
Hotel Medea
Thanks for that. I'll bear it in mind.
Stephe Harrop
Hotel Medea
I think to your credit you do acknowledge that the problem might be located less with the...
Mark O'Thomas
Hotel Medea
Interesting you should say that, as I've been wondering much the same thing myself...
Stephe Harrop
Hotel Medea