As Neon Dance look forward to bringing Last and First Men to The Coronet Theatre, choreographer Adrienne Hart tells us more about this multimedia work.
“Last and First Men takes Olaf Stapledon’s visionary 1930 sci-fi novel and transforms it into a deeply moving exploration of humanity’s dystopian future. The film’s vast, surreal imagery becomes a stage for movement.
A future race of humans finds itself on the verge of extinction. Almost all that’s left in the world are lone and surreal monuments, beaming their message into the wilderness. The last remnants of humanity – the last men – reach back across two billion years to speak to us, the first men.
Striking choreography breathes life into this haunting vision of a world beyond our own – one shaped by extraordinary abilities, new possibilities, and profound difference.”
Where: The Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill
When: 26-28 Feb
Ticket link: https://www.thecoronettheatre.com/whats-on/last-and-first-men/
Last and First Men brings together dance, film, music and narration. What was the process to bring all these together and where did the initial idea come from?
The film created by Johann Jóhannsson came out in 2020 and that was the starting point for me.
Discovering the film and the haunting soundtrack then deep diving into the book Last and First Men, written by Olaf Stapledon in the 1930s.
For me, it was about giving a physicality to some of the beautiful descriptions of the last humans written by Stapledon.
Jóhannsson’s film, absent of any people, became the perfect backdrop and I felt I had space as a choreographer and director to weave all the elements together without taking anything away from what came before.
Olaf Stapledon’s 1930 novel is often cited as a study of humanity from the last human race. How did his text and ideas inform your choreography?
Stapledon’s text is so rich and whilst it features throughout Last and First Men (the film), it’s actually only taken from the last chapter of the book.
Reading the whole thing you get this fascinating alternative history starting in 1930 then going 2 billion years into the future.
My dancers and I worked with sections of Stapledon’s text in the studio to develop a physicality and a particular way of moving, sensing and communicating.
We were helped by Ana Rajcevic’s ‘body-extensions’, these wearable sculptural pieces designed to extend bodies or connect the dancers to one another.
For example, Aoi Nakamura and Fukiko Takase wear white mesh masks laced with hundreds of threads connecting them together at the start of the work to visually offer an image of the telepathic communication described in the novel.
They can’t see out of the piece, so they’re reliant on other senses to feel one another in the space and move as one.
The film was left incomplete on Johann Jóhannsson’s death and eventually released posthumously. Did Yair Elazar Glotman’s involvement make it a rather different piece than originally planned?
Of course we can never know if Johann Jóhannsson would have been satisfied with the end result. I’d like to think he would be.
I know that Yair Elazar Glotman was already working very closely with Jóhannsson when he died and I think he deeply understood Jóhannsson’s intentions and his overall vision for the work.
I guess the beauty of leaving a work incomplete is that it gives space for others to add and complement in ways that they wouldn’t have done if the artist were alive.
In Olaf Stapledon’s Last and First Men he hints that the last humans were influencing his writing by telepathically channeling from the future so you never know!
The Coronet has huge potential as a venue. Without spoiling the vision, can you give audiences an idea what to expect?
It’s the first time we’ve presented work at The Coronet and I’m hugely excited to be presenting this work in the venue.
We tweak and adapt the work to each location and I love how the architecture of a building feeds into the overall experience.
Was it essential to have an actor narration for Last and First Men from the start?
When I gained permission to work with Johann Jóhannsson’s film and music I did wonder if the text would be too much throughout an hour long dance work.
However, I now couldn’t imagine the work without it. Tilda Swinton’s delivery is so perfect and every word carries so much meaning.