Pick pocketing the planets

SYDNEY: An ambitious Sydney Festival collaboration between Sydney Theatre Company and Belgium’s Ontroerend Goed has resulted in a show that attempts to canvas no less than a history of everything.

“I was talking to a friend, who saw the show, and she was saying that she found the beginning of the show quite depressing. Not because of what we were doing as performers, but just that it became very clear to her how stuffed up the world is, how preoccupied we have become by power and greed, and how ego centric our world is today. Very early on the director spoke about how insignificant we are as humans in relation to the whole universe, and at first I found that to be quite a negative way of looking at things. But I soon realised that actually it's not about humans being insignificant, he was saying how lucky we are to have been born, how lucky it is that, today, you and I are alive. So let’s treasure every moment.”

So says Zindzi Okenyo, who is currently performing in A History of Everything, a show that has been developed for Sydney Festival through a collaboration between Sydney Theatre Company and Ontroerend Goed, the Belgian theatre-makers responsible for the international festival hit, Once And For All We’re Going To Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up And Listen.
Starting from the day you walk into the theatre and going back in time from there, the ensemble of actors – comprising four Belgians and three Australians – attempts to grapple with the astronomical history of our world, and universe, from their own very personal points of view. Based on the works of Richard Dawkins on evolution theory, Brian Greene on cosmology, and EH Gombrich’s A Little History of the World, the aim is to present a ‘history of everything, from the big bang up until today'.

“We’ve created a very personal piece that I hope allows audiences to reflect on their lives and their place in our universe,” Okenyo tells SX. “The show is very playful and fun but we also ask big questions, and that is incredibly important. We must use art in this way, otherwise what’s the point?”

Directed by the artistic director of Ontroerend Goed, Alexander Devriendt, the show was created from scratch after developments in both Sydney and Ghent. “Early on we recognised that it would be easy for the show to become a history lesson, which would make a really boring show, so we combated that by making a show that expresses how we, the cast, feel about our place in the word, and hopefully in turn the audience can go through that same journey.”

Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company until February 5. Bookings www.sydneytheatre.com.au.