After Dubrovka

In October 2002 42 Chechen rebels took over the Dubrovka theatre in Moscow during a performance of the musical Nord Ost, taking the audience and performers hostage. The siege lasted for 57 hours and ended when the Russian military pumped in a sedative gas and stormed the building. In total 129 of the hostages died, almost all as a result of the gas. 5 years on DUBROVKA is a reflection on the significance of this event, and on other acts of performance and audience in the world today, both in theatres and beyond. Put another way, AFTER DUBROVKA employs the Moscow theatre siege as the frame for an investigation of the theatre of recent world events, and of the ‘eventness’ of theatre. This is theatre and it is not theatre. This is an event in a theatre, remembering an event in a theatre. This is not a theatre event - this is an act of remembrance. A theatre is taken over. It is wired with a lot of speakers, hanging over the stage and spread around the auditorium. The audience is led round the back of the theatre before arriving on stage, to stand in front of another audience seated in the auditorium. One audience watches another, as they listen to the speakers triggered by their presence. And what do they hear? Mostly they hear the voice of someone not there, reflecting on their absence and what it means for the audience member to be there, in their place. In the auditorium for example, the voice talks about the experience of an audience member in the Dubrovka, but elsewhere as well – in other theatres, in front of the TV, when becoming a witness to a significant event - on their status as audience, on their bodies, on their act of looking, on the other people or the absence of people around them. On stage they reflect on different perspectives – that of an actor, or a character or a political activist, or a failing dictator, or a suicide bomber - and it is not always clear which. What’s said is at times funny, factual, poignant, provocative or political. But sometimes they just hear a sound. Because in October 2002 a lot of people went to the theatre, and sat down and didn’t get up again. Equally, and ever since that time, increasing numbers of people have performed the act of placing themselves up in front of as many people as they can, triggering a device and not walking away.