Commitment Phobe: An Ode to the Contemporary Experience of Existence

The performance will take place in a small black-box theatre set. The spectators will be initially confronted with a stage under construction: several green and red straps hanging from a metal scaffolding - nothing else. Soon enough, Brand and Hemlock-Yensen will make their appearance, carrying along various objects and materials: from buckets and ladders to cushions and a pineapple, their assortment is as diverse as it is promising. Initially placed at the back of the stage, the presence of these objects prepares us for what is about to take place: a (de)construction project. Through regular communication, the co-performers will start repositioning these objects all over the space: are they now finding their permanent place or are they commencing on a journey of endless repositioning? Are their new places random or meticulously orchestrated? This transformative process, which will take over the largest part of the performance, will be interrupted by pre-recorded voice messages several times: seemingly incoherent instances from the performers’ daily lives will be concisely narrated, offering another dimension to the running action. 

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As an essentially process-oriented concept, Commitment Phobe eschews the notion of “arriving” somewhere. It embraces “queering,” in Joachim Robbrecht’s words. It escapes fixation and solidification. It is a weaving. It reminds you to pause, relax, enjoy. It encloses the uncertainty and anguish of the contemporary world; an uncertainty that, as performers’ recorded stories confirm, has a tiny little point of departure but gradually expands to consume your mind, body, the space around you. In a society that values certainty but nourishes ambiguity, doubt, and disorientation, Commitment Phobe is a portrayal of a condition that is not limited to the dramatic space or time anymore. It is a reflection of one’s inner struggle that becomes hard to confess out loud - the struggle in the mundane things. Yet, Commitment Phobe speaks them out – out of a plethora of objects and materials, out of one’s battle with placing them in order.