The Zero Hour, Venue 150 @ EICC, 20 to 24 August 12pm, £12 (£10 concessions)
The Zero Hour follows the stories of five couples living through five very different versions of the same historical events in the final hours of the war in Berlin in 1945. Across these different histories the protagonists’ lives connect and gradually build a picture of human stoicism in the face of history.
Framed as film that is being directed by a Chinese film director and crew, The Zero Hour fuses live action with pre-recorded film, animation, and computer generated imagery to create a world where human relations are located to be at the heart of historical events. Disturbing and romantic in turn The Zero Hour is shot through with the obsessions that are the hallmarks of ITD’s narrative inventions to date. The play will be performed in Chinese, German, French, Russian (with English subtitles).
Director Andrew Quick said about the new play:-“The Zero Hour is a performance that examines how individuals get caught up in the great sweep of history. It’s crammed full of small personal stories that are brutally curtailed by the director’s repeated cry of “cut” as versions of history are recorded and made before us. Despite the enormity of the events that surround them, these stories resonate and refuse to be swept away – it’s these stories that history, in reality, is made of.”
Leeds and Lancaster theatre company ‘imitating the dog’ devise performances that experiment with the role of story-telling and narrative in a contemporary theatrical context. Through the innovative combination of digital media, design and physical performance, the company creates off-kilter worlds within which public and private obsessions – identity, death, love and sexuality – are explored. Made in close collaboration with associate artists their highly visual and technological productions represent a unique and sometimes disorientating experience for the spectator.
The company last appeared at the festival with their acclaimed production Hotel Methuselah in 2011 as part of the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase.
