EXERCISES OF (BE)LONGING is a one-on-one telephone performance happening live. An audience member is asked to pick up a package that contains five envelopes with phone numbers of five strangers. The performance starts in the evening at a set time for each audience member: the audience member calls the stranger, opens the envelope, and surrenders to the story of the person on the other side. During the performance, the audience member witnesses five intimate stories of strangers who! never reveal their identity.
The work is grounded in real-life stories and departures from an interest in moments or events when a person has been in the process of finding or not finding a way how to be with people around them. Themes of acceptance and the cost of fitting in are embedded in each story. The performance itself is a longing for a time when people will be able to come together once again. More importantly, the work questions the understanding of togetherness and the need to define it on
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Makers: Barbara Lehtna, Katrīna Dūka, Jānis Balodis,
Kristina Hudenko - Performers: 32 anonymous performers
Reviews
Production
Co-produced by: Dirty Deal teatro | Riga, Latvia; VABAMU Museum of Occupation and Freedom | Tallinn, Estonia
Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia and Riga City Council
Premiere: November 16, 2021 in Estonia