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After Telegrams from the Nose (Holland Festival 2010), South African artist William Kentridge returns with the world première of his latest chamber opera Refuse the hour. Kentridge is well known for his 2d keyframing animations, in which he makes the animations within one single key frame. His use of layers and his resistance to the linearity of time in his animations can also be found in his operas. In Refuse the hour, Kentridge combines dance and live music with some strange machines and projections of his own animations, which are mixed with live projections of the performance itself, creating a world in which time does not adhere to the laws of nature, but rather to the laws of Kentridge.

  • © John Hodgkiss

  • © John Hodgkiss

  • © John Hodgkiss

  • © John Hodgkiss

  • © John Hodgkiss

credits

direction William Kentridge music Philip Miller choreography Dada Mashilo video editing Catherine Meyburgh dramaturgy Peter Galison set Sabine Theunissen movement direction Luc de Wit costume design Greta Goiris machine design Christoph Wolmarans, Jonas Lundquist, Louis Olivier lighting design Urs Schoenebaum dance Dada Mashilo soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac harmonium Donatienne Michel-Dansac vocals Ann Masina, Joanna Dudley, Bahm Ntabeni actor Thato Motlhaolwa, William Kentridge, Bahm Ntabeni conductor Alan Howard trumpet Alan Howard percussion Tlale Makhene violin Waldo Alexander trombone Dan Selsick production Caroline Naphegyi coordination Olivia Sautereau stage manager John Carroll technical assistance Charles Picard sound direction Gavan Eckhart assistent lighting design John Torres video manipulator Kim Gunning assistent video manipulation Boris Theunissen light operator Boris Theunissen coproduction Festival d’Avignon, Holland Festival, Romaeuropa Festival, Onassis Cultural Centre Athens with the support of the Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg), Lia Rumma Gallery (Naples and Milan), Marian Goodman Gallery (New York and Paris), Goethe Institut South Africa

This performance is made possible by