From Morning to midnight

an urban pilgrimage

From Morning to Midnight was the final production of our second year at CISPA. Based on an expressionist play of the same name by German playwright Georg Kaiser, it tells the story of a bank clerk who experiences an awakening of the soul and, absconding with the bank’s money, sets out to discover whether anything in life is truly worth living.

an urban pilgrimage

The audience was led, in pilgrimage fashion, through seven stations depicting scenes from the daylong journey of The Clerk, starting with Awakening and ending in Salvation. All the way through the journey, Death is silently following The Clerk, eventually catching up to him at the final station.

co-creation during quarantine

From Morning to Midnight was co-created by an ensemble and director Lars Henning in a close entrepreneurial process. As COVID-19 restrictions made it impossible to meet physically, we had to find new ways of working in order to be able to rehearse.

The ensemble began by creating scenarios based on the play, which were then filmed and shared with the rest of the ensemble through Zoom and Skype. These scenarios were then developed into actual scenes and additional video material to be used later on.

hybrid of live performance and streaming

As performing indoors wasn’t possible due to restrictions, the ensemble had to find a way to merge the developed scenes and video material into a single, cohesive performance. Ultimately, the live performances and streamed audio/video material came to compliment each other on multiple levels.

For example, a live scene of The Clerk was staged at the top of a building while the audience watched from street level. Prior to the scene, a livestream revealed one character’s journey from the staircase to the rooftop, and as the scene played out live, that character’s inner monologue was broadcast straight to the audience’s headphones.

While transitioning from one location to the next, the audience would be listening to soundscapes, monologues or even a podcast, immersing them in the journey of The Clerk from start to finish.

Because of the multi-faceted nature of our production, the ensemble had to stretch their abilities both as performers and as all-round creative artists. In addition to developing all the scenes, choreographies and concepts, we had to also deep-dive into learning how to use the tools we had to create all the audio/video material we needed.

Much of this material was created using only the filming/editing apps available on our mobile phones. In order to share the content with the audience, the ensemble had to master live-streaming content over the internet while maintaining synchronicity between the audience’s devices and with the live performance.

contemporisation

Though the themes of From Morning to Midnight still feel relevant even 100 years later, there was still some re-imagining to be done in terms of aspects of the play that were more tied to its time. What is the equivalent of betting on a 24-hour bike race today? Who goes to brothels anymore when one can find anything (and anyone) on the internet? What is beauty in today’s world?

In the final scene of the play, The Clerk wanders into a Salvation Army hall where an ecstatic crowd is confessing their sins at the Bench of Penance. In our version of the play, the SA hall is transformed into a meeting of social media influencers, lifestyle coaches, fitness stars and their followers who confess their deeds to their idols in the name of self improvement and mindfulness.

The Clerk is affected by the crowd and eventually confesses how he has absconded, throws the money at the crowd and declares his hope that they destroy every bit of it. The crowd steals the money and runs away, leaving The Clerk all alone in the aftermath. His final hope of finding a meaningful connection with someone is then destroyed when an instagram influencer turns him in. 

The day has run its course, and so has his flight. Death sneaks from the shadows to take him… but where to?

production details

From Morning to Midnight - An Urban Pilgrimage

Written by: Georg Kaiser

Director: Lars Henning

Conceived, developed and performed by: Karri Karjalainen, Milda Sutkevičiūtė, Heiðdís Hlynsdóttir, Minna Koponen, Lia Goresh, Henna Mäki-Filppula, Ina Raunio, Atte Hänninen, Delya Messadi and Anna Reini with Askur Kristjansson

Graphic Design: Minna Koponen

Trailer, consultation and additional video editing: Rasmus Flensborg

Photography: Constantin Gindele

Performed over six shows on 23.5.-29.5.2020 in different locations around Nordvest, Copenhagen.