A teenager sits alone in their bedroom. Their only connection to the outside world is the endless pit of the internet, throwing them to and fro between memes before bed and the perversity and violence of the digital underbelly.
At night, while the screen of their laptop still glows, something seems to move in their room - a shadow in the doorway, a laugh in the dark, breathing under their bed - until the haunting slowly worsens and the teenager understands that it’s finally time to answer a question which they have repressed for so long.
HAUNTOLOGY is a modern ghost story about the existential struggle of our species' youngest generations to grow up in a world that is systematically being destroyed. How do you start your life when your species seems obsessed with eating its own?
Inspired by writings by Mark Fisher, numerous cult-horror films and their creeping, unnerving soundtracks, HAUNTOLOGY confronts us with the most fundamental question a young person can ask themselves in our current societal state of existential paralysis: Do I take part, or do I end my life?
Premièred on the 12th of January 2024 at Frascati in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
CREDITS
Concept, story, direction, lighting design and voice recordings Mhàiri Mackenna
Performance QiQi van Boheemen
Composition, live music and sound design Tos Nieuwenhuizen
Scenography and costume design Vienna Pieterse
Story, dramaturgy and textual fragments Roel Pronk
Dramaturgy Belle de Wit
Story and special effects Marit Hooijschuur
Special effects Krzys Burdzy
Production management Dominique Sikkema
Technical production and operation Wouter Versteege
Technical operation Luc van Weelden
Scenic photograpy Bart Grietens
Produced by Frascati