In ATMEN / evolution is silently unfolding Nicole Beutler and her team welcome you into a possible future, the year 2200. Beneath the collapsed burden of the self-defeating hunger for power of the humans, the planet is finally breathing again and the surviving humans appear from the shadows in search of a new community.

Overgrown by nature the theater hall is now a ruin wherein flora, fauna, bacteria and luminescent fungi thrive. The red plush of the theatre chairs has become part of this living ecosystem. Under the moonlight, a wolf howls and six human/hybrids move from the shadows, dancers and singers. As part of the breathing biotope they are entangled with long forgotten radio waves, rustling leaves and electronic music compositions by our house composer Gary Shepherd, intersected with remnants of songs by romantic composer Franz Schubert. Visual artist Heleen Blanken develops three-dimensional projections overgrowing the theater with a nature that is resilient. Deep in these damp, vibrating, cavernous depths, at the bottom of a post-apocalyptic reality, the wild promise of an unimaginable future gradually takes shape. The audience is invited to become part of this ecosystem for some time.

Premiere: 18+19 October 2023 Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA)
Tour of Dutch theatres: January – June 2024 (see calendar)

Presented and supported by the arts & culture programme of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) and by Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam (ITA).