Bill Aitchison On … 2012
October 31, 2008
2012 is the latest show by theatre and performance artist Bill Aitchison. Following its recent premiere in Germany, 2012 will get its UK debut on the 10-11 November at Camden Peoples’ Theatre as part of the Apocryphal Festival.
What is the show about?
It is about conspiracy theories, ranging from the War on Terror and the CIA funding art to the end of the world in 2012 and Saddam Hussein’s novels.
Where did the idea for it come from?
I have always enjoyed reading about esoteric theories, UFOs and that sort of material, but never took it seriously. I noticed that more recently that there has been an upsurge in interest in this area; Internet movies on 9/11 conspiracies, Da Vinci Code, David Icke, etc. Looking at these I was troubled by the way they started out making sense but then took wrong turns. I was reading Nietzsche’s ideas on ‘false causality’ and this seemed to offer a way to identify a common logic to many conspiracies. That then gave me the idea that I could make a show about the conspiratorial mindset as a whole, rather than any one specific theory, and in so doing indulge some of my pet theories.
Is the show a satire?
Not exactly. Whilst there are some pretty crazy theories in there, some of which are extremely funny, I also include things I genuinely believe and things I half believe or would like to believe, the sort of things I could imagine believing if I let my imagination take care of the logic. What’s more, it isn’t obvious when the show passes from sense to non-sense, it is all performed straight up. 2012 is not simply about the stupid things other people think, it lands a lot closer to home with the crazier theories intruding in and casting doubt upon more conventional ones. That said, some bits of the show do look a lot like very black comedy.
What is its message?
Like most of my shows it doesn’t really boil down to a message but rather it tries to present a portrait of something that makes visible the different tensions that hold it together. Since 2012 is a show about conspiracy theories, the principal tension, one which I think a lot of people feel, is that of not knowing what to believe, about the uncertainty that comes from not having full command of the facts. Sometimes I think a question can be as useful a ‘message’ for a show to offer as an answer, and if there is a question to 2012, it is this “How do I deal with the fact that much of what I believe may be false?”
What is the Apocryphal Festival?
The Apocryphal festival is a week-long programme from 8-16th November at Camden Peoples Theatre that includes productions and readings by the company Apocryphal Theatre, shows by individual members of Apocryphal, and workshops. Apocryphal (the name means ‘of dubious or uncertain authorship’) is an experimental theatre company and lab, of which I am a member, and the festival programme is on the company’s website: http://www.flyingoutofsequence.org
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