Forever and a Day book cover

The Theory

With more than ten different settings spread over at least four distinct time periods, Forever and a Day is a truly grand piece of contemporary dramatic literature. Our production will capitalize on the presence of the actor, sophisticated costumes, and precise lighting design to create razor sharp imaginary worlds. Only the minimal necessary elements of set and props will be constructed in order to bring the audience into our collectively imagined worlds.

The onus of discovering, sharing and ultimately inhabiting these worlds lays with the ensemble of twelve actors. Though the reader of the script may glimpse the interconnectedness of the “menu,” each audience, seeing only one combination of the nine possibilities, has but one experience of the journey, or meal. By rehearsing and presenting all nine versions of the play, the ensemble will bring the consciousness of all to the performance of each.

Overview: Towards an Ergodic Theatre

The L4EC has long been interested in the ergodic literature of Serbian author Milorad Pavic. As a theatre that is never satisfied with simply “putting on plays” we sense a kindred spirit in the celebrated writer who has never even tried to simply “write a novel.”

In ergodic literature, nontrivial effort is required to allow the reader to traverse the text. If ergodic literature is to make sense as a concept, there must also be nonergodic literature, where the effort to traverse the text is trivial, with no extranoematic responsibilities placed on the reader except (for example) eye movement and the periodic or arbitrary turning of pages. (Aarseth)

Our American premiere of Forever And A Day is the first piece in a multi-year experiment with the work of Pavic.




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