Game Over

Everyone meets in gymsalen . The actors “infiltrate” the audience, the actor begins to write on a plastic wall, the dancer begins to dance. The music gets closer, suddenly the wall falls down and everyone moves further into the hall. Plastic is again attached around both spectators and actors. An overhead lights up in a corner with vivid marker lines that run across the light. The students help shape the scenographic images with their presence. The audience is both guided and can move around freely. In the performance, the actors want to tell something about the damage the Gulf War and the sanctions that followed caused countless adults and children in Iraq, about some of the effects of the International Monetary Fund, about changes in legislation for the betterment of the richest. All the texts are from John Pilger’s book “The World’s New Rulers”. Pilger is a television journalist and has traveled around the world and documented several wars and crisis areas. Henie-Onstad Art Center is organizing a photo exhibition related to his work from January to March 2005. The music is evocative. It ranges from catchy industrial rock/pop with Nine Inch Nails to classical music to soft flamenco music. Game Over is definitely a political statement, done in a way that is not overt. The performance is engaging with great presence. It allows the audience to feel fear and uncertainty as they are led around by the performers.