Since Northern Ireland's leading performance company has been setting theatre to music, a cascade of awards has honoured each of its original creations. Its innovative combinations of words and images include The Doppler Effect, where musicians, performers and dancers acting as screens move continuously inside a cube. A voiceover narrates the story of a young man born in 1998, the same year as the ceasefire between Northern Ireland and Great Britain after 30 years of conflict. In his attempts to fall in love with Belfast, a city to which he is connected but which he does not recognise, and with a boyfriend, his life is torn between connection and disconnection with history and his community. Conor's piece imposes no particular viewpoint or morality; instead, it takes a more suggestive approach, allowing the audience to "wander" through a visually fantastic narrative and experience it in their own way. This is the Doppler effect: creating multiple perspectives from a story and a character (who also happens to be a mathematician) while intertwining social history, human history and pop culture references. Because depending on where we are and where we look, we understand different things. For Conor, it's all about a sense of place and belonging, and the possibility of reacting emotionally and intellectually: it’s a universal message.
In partnership with le Festival TRANSFORM! and Outburst Arts.
The Doppler Effect is supported by the British Council as part of the program UK/France Spotlight on Culture 2024 Imaginons Ensemble.
