Apocalypso: Revelations in Theater

There is nothing new under the sun. To some degree or other, improvisation has always been an element of theater. Improvisation within an agreed framework reached remarkable heights in the Commedia dell Arte of the 16th century. Audience participation is not new. How, then, were we being particularly creative?

The newness lies latent in each performance. The idea for the story, and the script – these are only the beginning. Each player brings to the moment his own humanity, as well as his talent and sensibility. The encounter of the actors with each other is the first stage in the alchemy of Apocalypso.

Each audience member, a unique gift of time and tears, brings his own humanity and the emotional mood of that precise moment. Encounter within the audience provides the next stage. Then, in the sharing and excitement of the theme, between these two alchemic compounds, communion is generated which is more than the sum of its parts, and never the same, from one performance to another.

Afterwards each person, player and audience alike, takes away something unique, and indescribable, an experience gone deep, like a seed which will germinate in its own good time. We reckon ourselves well applauded when people report a sleepless night after the show.