Against the Light

Venue

Blaagaard Teater, Norrebrogade 37, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark

Tickets

Mod lyset – Blaagaard Teater

Date & Time

23 – 27 May, 2023

Language

Danish

An audio walk by Caspar Eric directed by Sargun Oshana

5 star review ***** Kulturbukeren

5 star review **** Berlingske

The ninth episode of the novel, “Scylla & Charybdis,” takes place in the National Library, where Stephen Dedalus delivers his much-anticipated (though sparsely attended) lecture on Shakespeare and Hamlet. Stephen enters the philosophical fray in defense of Aristotle, and we learn that Haines has visited the library but has just left to purchase a book of Irish poetry. The conversation returns to Hamlet, and Stephen poses the central question his lecture will answer: “Who is King Hamlet?” In The Odyssey, Odysseus passes through a treacherous, narrow strait: on one side is Scylla, a murderous, multiheaded monster on the jagged rocks, and on the other is Charybdis, a giant sea-monster who creates a whirlpool to capture its prey. As Stephen delivers his lecture, he is navigating between various pairs of powerful forces: the ideas of Aristotle and Plato, the impulses of youth and maturity, the relationship between the artist and his/her art, and the disciplines of dogmatic scholasticism and spiritual mysticism.

Our chapter had the subject of EDUCATION REFORM. In chapter 9 the Library is a central piece of the piece. The library not as we think of it today, but as a gathering of minds and conversation.

A space where one can debate and speak with another. Stephen debates with the librarian and several characters about Shakespeare, Hamlet and many other greater subjects such as hell and ghosts, losses and love. There is a dominant male theoretical battle going on between Stephen and the characters he talks to.

It is as if Joyce himself is debating and word battling with himself. We wanted to present Caspar Eric as a young poet –  also called the internet poet – of a new generation. He is a poet who also uses a lot of cultural pop references in his books. We wanted him to take the theme of Education reform and make it his own. And this audio walk could be seen as a reform of the bodies we perceive in public spaces, and the bodies we don’t see.

AGAINST THE LIGHT was an audio walk that took place at Nørrebro, Copenhagen. The audience walked and listened to the young Danish poet Caspar Eric’s story, while he embarked on one last journey. An odyssey through the city but also through the troubled mind of the poet. The piece was a mockumentary about a young man with Cerebral Palsy, a movement disability. He had to write a play about Ulysses. It’s only a matter of time before he completely loses the ability to walk. As a reaction to this: he walked. And we walked in his footsteps.

The audience was inside the young poet’s head. They were therefore partly guided by his voice telling the story, and partly by music from Caspar Eric’s own band and by a sound design supporting the setting and providing text-free moments to process the text during the walk. The participants walked, pushed wheelchairs and were in wheelchairs themselves. The audio walk was highly accessible for those with disabilities. The different locations represented memories from the young poet’s past and sequences from Episode 9.