Modern industry strides with an unstoppable impetus, spawning technologies and products on a daily basis. HoloGrand is one of the newest, and by far the brightest star in the high-tech sky. Their novel methods for smelting and casting polarized screens have punched a massive whole in the market, launching a craze for the holographic gadgets created via those screens. The company’s own HoloPad™ has sold millions during the past month alone. Following their rise in success and profit, HoloGrand has established a brand new, heavily robotized facility in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The plant relentlessly expels an ever-increasing amount of produce... and smoke.
We cast ourselves to a small room within the underground floors of the factory. There a table hosts an uneasy meeting between a couple of HoloGrand’s executive officers and an infiltrator from the action wing of the environmental group Greenwolves.
The ensuing interrogation grows in passion, from an edgy standoff to a heated argument. Questions and accusations will fall on both sides of the table:
“Who is your target?”
“What are our crimes?”
What is the favourite new school
subject of third graders in Nicaragua?
How does physics work?
Or rather… how doesn’t it?
And most important of all:
Who will be devoured in the end?
Legal disclaimer: No environmentalists or executives were harmed in the making of this play.
Text: Vladislav Nenchev
Photos: Anni Taponen
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John Leo delivers another poetic salvo in Orange Alert’s barrage of acts. He will be performing three lyrical pieces that aim straight at the heart. Here's how the author describes his contribution to Orange Alert:
The second poem, The August Thunder, describes the disruption caused by a very heavy rainstorm over Helsinki (August, 2011) and is a critique of human self-importance. The third poem, Spring Light, is a tribute to our wondrous earth, where we live, move, and have our being.”
The celebration of music in Orange Alert continues with a trio of very talented performers: Tony Shaw is in charge of string instruments of all kinds, John Millar is the master of the winds, and Mira Berglund-Fitzpatrick will weave beautiful vocals.
Rain, rhythm, chaos is based on a rhythmic idea Tony gleaned from his rich life of strumming and listening. The way that is implemented and whatever John will add to the mix is hard to predict!
Diliana Stoyanova joins Orange Alert with a word and sound caboodle that came out of reading too much during quarantine, and buying sound equipment instead of alcohol. Both the soundscape and the poems are her own creation.
The science on the climate crisis has been clear for decades – and the solutions have been known. However, putting words into action will require such a profound, collective change to our way of life that it faces nearly insurmountable resistance. Recognising the acute gap between words and action, Elokapina (Extinction Rebellion) is creating nonviolent mass civil disobedience to raise the alarm, to remind governments of their obligations, and to demand real climate action.