Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849)
After all, what is anxiety other than a lack of control by reason? Edgar Allan Poe's characters attempt to explain phenomena that seem to escape their understanding. They formulate hypotheses and predictions, relying on sensory observations. But more often than not, their reasoning proves false and a sense of impending and uncontrollable threat arises. In Poe's stories, situations of immediate danger are rather rare. In contrast, anticipated and imagined fear is much more common: the danger lies not in the outside world but in ourselves. A peculiar feature of his poetry is Poe's preference for environments, objects or phenomena with an abstract, even geometric quality. The pendulum of The Pit and the Pendulum, the floor plan of the palace of The Masque of the Red Death, or the abstract shadow of paintings in The Fall of the House of Usher, are just some of the many possible examples. With Poe, form and space are very often described in terms of color, shape, texture, movement. Indirectly, he thus questions the perception of those phenomena. It is precisely in this balance and exploration of the boundaries between reality and imagination, between sensory perception and elusive mystery, between rationality and irrationality, that the fascination with Poe's world lies. With HAUNTED, HERMESensemble and the young wolves of Nemø ensemble produce a collection of compositions written by Pietro Dossena inspired by the literary work of Edgar Allan Poe. Together they explore the fascinating elements he used in his writing and translate them to the stage through music and performative elements. Haunted brings Poe's peculiar world to life in a multimedia performance that makes us reflect on how we experience our world. In the process, the audience's perception is questioned: do I hear what I think I hear? Do I see what I think I see? A stimulating performance that gets under your skin.30.11.2023 – Het Kanaal, Wijnegem (Première)