ANT HAMPTON & TIM ETCHELLS: NOT TO SCALE

Vera, Groningen, The Netherlands
August 13 – 22, 2021

Headphones + pencil, paper and eraser – for two at a time
You don’t need to be able to draw – even better if you’re hopeless! – but you do start by scribbling on a blank page. A performance for two at a time, you begin your shared journey by drawing, writing, erasing and listening. Voices, sounds, music and assignments help you on your way towards an unsettling picture book story that toys with the tension between creation and destruction. Little figures, houses and trees sketched without thought seem to come to life. A carnival of endless opportunities, a miniature bloodbath of crossed out drawings, scratched-out words and left-behind rubber traces. British artist and theatre maker Ant Hampton is a treasured guest of many years at Noorderzon, whilst artist and writer Tim Etchells is co-founder of the iconic British pioneers Forced Entertainment. They have teamed up now for a third time, to continue developing work in Hampton’s idiosyncratic ‘autoteatro’ style (let’s just say this means DIY theatre), and in this new performance once more magic springs to life as you follow the simple but increasingly revealing instructions. And no need to panic: drawing skills really are not a prerequisite…

Please note: there are only duo tickets (for 2 persons a time) available for this performance
An English version is available, but only if you come to the performance with 2 persons (and buy a duo ticket).

Not to Scale is a Noorderzon co-production

Ant Hampton is a British artist and performance maker based in Germany. His performance works explore the tension between fixed formal or structural elements and what has to be lived and negotiated in the moment. He has explored a strategy of guiding peοple through unrehearsed performance situations. This became known as Autoteatro, usually involving small-scale and intimate formats. In his recent works, a participating ‘audience’ takes meaningful risks and experiences real consequences. Ant collaborated with Tim Etchells in The Quiet Volume and Lest We See.

Tim Etchells is an artist and writer based in the UK whose work shifts between performance, visual art and fiction. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts, and in collaboration with a wide range of musicians, artists and performance makers including Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Marino Formenti and Taus Mahakacheva. Etchells’ visual art is held in numerous private and public collections around the world and has been shown recently in London, Rotterdam and Vienna.

Directors/choreographers: Ant Hampton, Tim Ettchells
With thanks to: Isambard Khroustaliov and Lothar Ohlmeier (for allowing samples from their album ‘Nowhere’)
Production: Ana Riscado
Coproducing partners: Access Point, St Petersburg, (Russia), Dublin Theatre Festival (Ireland), Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon, (Portugal), Noorderzon Festival, Groningen, (NL)
Dutch translation: Daan Alkemade
Dutch voice: Carly Wijs
Management: Danila-Freitag Agency for the performing arts