Zwarte Lente

Zwarte Lente (Black Spring) was created in 2020. A piece that integrates text, movement and music in a total composition. Zwarte Lente engages with ecology and the emotional and spiritual consequences of the current destruction of nature. It departs from the suggestion that we human beings are in a relational crisis with nature - or perhaps more like a break-up. Inspired by ecofeminism and sexual ecology, the work suggests that our relationship to nature is not that of a child towards a parent, but more of a relationship between lovers. In which there are actual consequences, and breaking up is an actual possibility.

The staging took place in a set created as a reflection on the empty space, using rusted metal plates as the ground on which we live. The fantasy about a disappearing nature was the initial spark for Zwarte Lente. The environment is part of who we are. What happens if we cause so much damage that it disappears, like a lover disappearing in the night?

Performed on tour in The Netherlands.

Directed & written by : Espen Hjort

Performed by : Mees Borgman, Dries de Sutter & Marko Ivic

Music by : Marko Ivic

Stage design by : Grischa Runge

Costume design by : Esmee Thomassen

Dramaturgy by : Joris van der Meer

Directors assistance by :  Erasmus Mackenna

Produced by : Theater Utrecht