Last Dream (On Earth) created and directed by Kai Fischer, is coming to Stranraer and Dumfries prior to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
A traveller stands on a beach in Morocco with a small group of friends. Tonight, they are going to try it. Tonight, they are getting ready, for a journey that might change their lives. Here, we will never know their names.
Decades earlier, a young man is being strapped into a tiny sphere, on top of a powerful rocket. He is ready for his mission, trying to become the first Human Being in Outer Space. His name will soon be known all over the world: his name is Yuri Gagarin.
As if out of nowhere, a musical dialogue starts. Words are spoken, and the story of the trip of a lifetime emerges.
Last Dream (On Earth) interweaves a driving live music score with accounts of those who risk their lives for a distant dream. It draws on extensive interviews and historic documents to explore journeys beyond the imaginable, and quests to find a better future in faraway places.
The production includes an award-winning live soundtrack with collaborations from sound designer Matt Padden, musicians Tyler Collins and Gameli Tordzoro and cast members Michelle Cornelius, Kimisha Lewis and Edward Nkom.
Audiences will experience the immersive sound world of Last Dream (On Earth) on headphones, as it is created and performed on stage in front of them.
Kai Fischer, Director says: “For me, Last Dream (On Earth) is not about outer space, or North Africa or Spain, or Finland even… or the Moon. For me, it is about the spaces in between. It is about the frontiers. It is about what we are prepared to do to reach the unknown and why. And so it is also about conversations between people who are worlds apart.
It is also about sounds and music. I like to create spaces where not everything is explained, but where an audience can imagine, and where a soundscape or a piece of music can help to create a powerful image or memory that is just yours. So our production is a collaboration with you. It is, very much, about the space in between, between our performance and your imagination.”
Kai Fischer’s research for Last Dream (On Earth) took him to seek out interviewees, travelling to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a refugee centre in Malta and onto Rabat and Tangier in Morocco. His research also led him to study the transcripts of radio communication during Yuri Gagarin’s flight to become the first Human to reach Outer Space, as well as official NASA documents, in relation to their early manned space program.
Kai Fischer is a theatre designer and theatre maker based in Paisley, near Glasgow. Before starting work on Last Dream (On Earth), his most recent project as a lead artist was the installation and performance piece Entartet, produced in association with Vanishing Point and CCA Glasgow. Entartet received a nomination for a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland, for Best Design in 2013.
Kai is a Creative Associate with Vanishing Point, and has created many of the designs for their recent productions, including The Destroyed Room and Interiors, as well as the lighting design for Tomorrow.
Previous collaborations with the National Theatre of Scotland include the set and lighting design for their award-winning co-production The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler, as well as the lighting design for The Tin Forest: A Puppet Theatre Experience, part of the Company’s large-scale Commonwealth project celebrating Glasgow’s industrial past and creative future.
Another recent project for Kai included the set, lighting and projection designs for Scottish Opera’s Inés de Castro.
In 2015 Last Dream (On Earth) was the winner of a CATS Award for Best Music & Sound. In April 2016, the production had its most recent outing as part of the programme around the Europe Price New Theatrical Realities, which was hosted this year in Craiova / Romania.
www.lastdream.org
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