THIS, ADMITTEDLY, IS A theatrical piece.

    While during the development phase the venue was not considered – it could not have been, -- it turned out that the venue was, in most repects, a theater, with the hallmarks of one; an impressive array of stage lights, sound equipment, dark interiors, etc.

    To not take advantage of or ignore the same would be like trying to stay dry in deep water.

    Like many of my works, this one is participative. Participation was solicited, a few minutes prior to the performance, and the participants briefed accordingly. Here I must acknowledge the help of Montreal artist Jessica Arsenault who helped in randomly selecting the participants.

    The briefing just gave general instructions on actions they were to undertake, which, since this was not theater, not strictly, they followed to the extent of their understanding of those instructions and appreciation of their participation.

    Given thus, and given the general tendency of such situations to develop unpredictably, the actions expected of the participants were kept to a minimum. Even that was too much, mainly too strenous for some. On the whole, the endurance of the group – lasting not more than a few minutes for most – led to the ending, or to use a proper theatrical term, the denoument.

    On hindsight, the way the piece ended, appears to be logical, even inevitable especially under the lights of theatre.

An admission is called for here. A question that accompanied the development of this piece was whether emotion has any place in performance art. Most performance art is or tries to be devoid of emotion. The focus is simply on the action or a series of them.

    This question arises unavoidably since the piece refers to a historical event that, aside from everything else about it, is highly emotional. Naturally so.

    Just as naturally, the performance was highly emotional for me.