It was done by a dutch animation/puppetry collective. They decided to take on the events of 9/11 no less. And they succeeded mightily.

You can watch it here. Choose “FILM” option. And then “History of The World Part XI”. It is truly awesome and amazing.

Opening with a depiction of near-skeletal men engaging in back-breaking labour to build a gas chamber and crematorium that would propel over a million people to their deaths, KAMP sets an immediately grim and sombre tone. A crisp but sunny October afternoon outside is quickly forgotten about, as the audience is plunged back over sixty years to the concentration camps of Auschwitz. Uniquely represented here by thousands of miniature puppets with shaved heads, empty eye sockets, and gaping toothless mouths, this wordless hour-long drama is a day in the life of unspeakable horrors.

Presented by the Dutch theatre group Hotel Modern, the puppets are skillfully manipulated by Herman Helle, Pauline Kalker and Arlène Hoornweg respectively. In one scene, three men are hanged, in another, a prisoner appears to commit suicide by throwing himself onto an electrified fence, whilst many, many more are stripped and then gassed to death. To menacing industrial sounds, a death train pulls into the camp’s internal station, whilst, to the strains of classical music, hundreds of workers march back into camp, passing below the deathly ironic neon-blue words Arbeit macht frei, as they do so.

Indeed, the accompanying sound effects are remarkably authentic. From meals being served and eaten to a man being viciously bludgeoned to death, the flawless synchronisation between the puppeteers and their sound technicians is a crucial element to the performance. That said, two of the most powerful scenes are simply trailing a camera either along row after row after row of prisoners standing in a yard or across a pile of broken naked corpses in a mass grave. Each is a small put potent reminder of the sheer scale of the atrocities committed.

It took six months to prepare the large-scale model that combines both camps that made up Auschwitz, as well as all of the puppets. A further six months was then spent perfecting the performance. The result is a solemn and dignified work of absorbing but ghastly intensity. The fact that a part of you thinks that it might actually be inappropriate to applaud the artists at the end is, of course, testament to the power of this production. Highly recommended.

afterMAY 2009 – Black Sea Coast – Mamaia

starts at 4am – Hotel Modern Area

1st ACT – 1st of May: Negru, Mara, Faster, Mihai Amatti, Frantz & special guest
2nd ACT – 2nd of May: Livio, Greeg, Narcissa, Oliviu & special guest

http://www.myspace.com/after12may

No Pequeno Auditório do Centro Cultural de Belém, a companhia Hotel Modern procura imaginar o inimaginável: o maior massacre da História, cometido numa cidade construída propositadamente para esse efeito.

Em Kamp, a companhia Hotel Modern procura reencenar a realidade histórica. Um
protótipo de Auschwitz preenche o palco. Casebres sobrepovoados, uma linha-férrea,
um portão com as palavras “Arbeit macht Frei” [O Trabalho Liberta].

Milhares de pequenas figuras construídas à mão representam os prisioneiros e os carrascos.
Os actores movem-se em palco como repórteres de guerra gigantes, filmando os
acontecimentos horríveis com câmaras em miniatura, e o público transforma-se em
testemunha, num momento em que todas as testemunhas reais estão a desaparecer.

Em parceria com FIMFA LX8 – Festival Internacional de Marionetas e Formas Animadas.

Actores: Arlène Hoornweg, Pauline Kalker, Herman Helle

Companhia – Hotel Modern

De 15-05-2008 a 18-05-2008

Quinta a sábado às 21h00 – Domingo às 16h00

12,5€ (noites, com descontos habituais para bilhetes adquiridos no CCB) – tardes – 10€

site: CCB

Always in fear that I am embarrassingly ignorant in all things cultural, I decided this year I’d make a greater effort to go to the theatre more often, visit more museums, read better books, become an internationally famous rock megastar - all in all pretty much the same promises I make to myself every January. So I was thrilled that my former occasionally better half got us tickets to the theatre for my christmas present. With wide eyes and an open mind we made our way to the Shouwburg in Rotterdam on Saturday for Hotel Modern’s new production Rococo.

The idea, from what I could fathom, was that it was (supposed to be) an experiment in curiosity and what the world might be without shame or other such useful restraints. What it turned out to be was a man and a woman on stage surrounded by various props – mainly cardboard boxes and tubes – and playing like bored children without any story or sense whatsoever for what felt like an eternity. It is hard to pick out my highlight from the ‘event’. It could be when they had little porcelain figurines playing in a poo like substance (projected on a big screen) or perhaps when the man felt the need to take out his willy and put a wrench around it. The audience’s reaction though was what I found most interesting. After half an hour of this nonsense they seemed to find anything amusing and almost wet themselves when the lady poured water into a wellington boot. Inspired indeed!

Shortly after that, my FOBH and myself decided we’d endured more than enough of this torture and fled the theatre in search of a stiff drink. I watched people being far more creative in the bar later using beer mats. It’s astonishing what people can get away with in the name of art.

*according to Oscar Wilde