Landscape (1989)performance for theatres / 60 minutes / 2018
Inspired by Anna Tsing's anthropological study, The Mushroom at the End of the World, Landscape (1989) weaves together the history of mushroom hunting in Oregon, the early life of John Cage, and apocalypse fiction: a haunting vision of ruin and repair.
On a bare stage, two people perform choreography inspired by the movements of foragers, conjure a forest fire, and cook in silence. At the end, and alone at last, two mushrooms sing to the audience.
Set against a score of bright trumpets and droning strings, Landscape (1989) is a meditation on endings and beginnings, asking how we might find hope amongst ecological ruins. It’s an intimate and reflective performance which provides a whispered call to attention; a space to listen more closely, more carefully, to what surrounds and outlasts us.
Created & performed by: Clara Potter-Sweet and Ben Kulvichit
Sound design & dramaturgy: Nat Norland
Lighting design: Ciara Shrager
Producer: Emily Davis
Photos: Matt Wendzina
Show filming: Aydan Tair
Landscape (1989) was developed with support from the Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL)
PREVIOUS DATES> 24 January 2024 / Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol
> 23 January 2024 / Exeter Phoenix
> 02 November 2023 / Nonsuch Studios, Nottingham
> 01 November 2023 / Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
> 02 September 2021 / Sensational Ecologies, University of Sussex [online presentation]
> 09 February 2021 / Bedales School, Petersfield [online presentation]
> 22-27 June 2020 / Incoming Festival (New Diorama, HOME, Tobacco Factory Theatre) [cancelled]
> 19 February 2020 / Wickham Theatre, Bristol
> 02-25 August 2019 / ZOO Venues, Edinburgh
> 21 June 2019 / Offbeat Festival, Oxford [cancelled]
> 31 May 2019 / Pulse Festival, New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich [extract]
> 13-14 February 2019 / VAULT Festival, London
> 24-25 November 2018 / New Diorama, London
> 31 October 2018 / Emerge Festival, Warwick Arts Centre
> 03-04 March 2018 / University of Warwick [work-in-progress]
RESOURCES Read a reflective text on the making of Landscape (1989), written for Contemporary Theatre Journal in 2019
Watch the trailer for our 2023/24 farewell tour
See the reading list/texts that went into the show
SELECTED PRESS“Did I know all the time what was going on or what was the intention? No. Did I mind? Double no.”
-
Lyn Gardner / August 2019
“Work that gets stuck in your teeth... Rewarding and fascinating and eerily beautiful.”
- Darker Neon / February 2019
“A bold attempt to examine the world beyond the human perspective.”
- The List / August 2019
“Work that rumbles around in your head long after it’s over.”
- Lyn Gardner / September 2019
“Delicate, lace-like and trusting ... entrancing in its own quiet way.”
- The Stage / August 2019
“They have read the rule book, and are methodically dismantling it page by page’
- The Empty Blogspace / August 2019
“There is something hypnotic about Ben Kulvichit and Clara Potter-Sweet’s storytelling.”
- The Play's the Thing / February 2019
OTHER REVIEWS / WRITING> Fest Magazine / August 2019
> Intermission / August 2019
> Exeunt Magazine / August 2019
> Interview: Gareth Vile / July 2019
> Interview: The Mortal Fool (Daniella Harrison) / February 2019
> The Upcoming (they did not like it) / February 2019
> slow species (Ang Kia Yee) - thoughts on Landscape (1989) / December 2018
> Georgie Hook: ‘Scenographic ‘stuff’: attending to everyday objects in performance and beyond’ in Studies in Theatre and Performance / September 2023