Loitering Theatre /

info@loiteringtheatre.org


2016,

Truffaut's Code
Truffaut's Code

Truffaut's Code


Loitering Theatre: Caroline Campbell, Nina McGowan and Philip Stewart

Inspired by Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Truffaut's Code saw Loitering Theatre enact a sci-fi ritual at dusk at the Brownshill Dolmen, Carlow, Ireland.

Viewed from the roadside, this portal tomb's presence in the landscape first appears humble. Up close Brownshill Dolmen becomes a Mothership of stone - a maxed-out megalithic spectacle. The Brownshill Dolmen is Europe's largest Dolmen. It is an object not tied to time. One that exists both in the past and in the future. Its looming presence voices the potential that we might commune with the infinite. And so, for thousands of years, the viewer and their descendants look on; slack-jawed at the Dolmen’s being in time.

The dolmen whispers to the visitor on its own affective register. Pressing the buttons of awe -its meaning cannot be codified. It calls us out - as small moments of life within a vast and cosmic continuum. Loitering Theatre wondered how we might talk to this Mothership. How could we cross through the portal?

We had seen attempts to communicate with the Other before. In dark rooms of childhood the cinema screen had burnt them into our collective memory. And so we built the Tone Organ that played Truffaut's Code. On a Summer night in the Irish countryside, with a crowd gathered, it started to speak to the Dolmen. And then...the dialogue began.

Sound Design in collaboration with Philip Stewart
Original composition Philip Stewart.

Shown as part of SiteWorks at Carlow Arts Festival


10/16