By New Yangon Theatre Institute
လသာေဆာင္ (The “Grand Balcony”)
A new work of contemporary Myanmar theatre inspired by THE BALCONY by Jean Genet.
Directed by Ruth Pongstaphone with May Thet Zaw.
Written and performed by The New Yangon Theatre Institute Ensemble (Ralph Cotteril, Austin, Than Htut, Mayco Naing, Kyawt K Khaing, Phone Pa Pa, Yadanar, Sithu Win, Hsu Myat Moe, Wendy@A Wai, William@Nanda, Aster@Sri, Ko Lin, Htet Oo Wai Yan, May Thet Zaw, Kriz Chan Nyein).
Q&A session to follow.
Limited seating.
Please come early!
Warning: Mature content. Appropriate for ages 16 and up.
Language: Burmese and English.
လသာေဆာင္ (The “Grand Balcony”) is a new work of contemporary Myanmar theatre that confronts the illusion of certainty. Inspired by “The Balcony,” play by Jean Genet, the theatre artists from the New Yangon Theatre Institute Performing Ensemble explore and expose a world of colliding fantasies, reflecting the conditions of our contemporary society in which social media and digital virtual realities can facilitate every individual’s ability to live in their own illusions. As individual “realities” collide they challenge and confront the illusion of certainty that their makers and believers rely on to make sense and order out of their lives. The desire for certainty is a driving factor in human behavior; we plan our lives in advance with expectations of how things will be. We guard ourselves against uncertainty, fearing what we cannot control. We create fantasies that protect us from ourselves, creating an illusion of certainty that assures us that our perceptions are true. In the world of the “Grand Balcony” nothing is ever certain, identities are constantly shifting, and “reality” is an evasive notion. As artists we feel this bares similarity to the world we live in today which is in a state of constant flux, confused by “fake news,” propaganda, and “lifestyle” advertising.
~ Certainty Is an Illusion
“We all try to avoid uncertainty, even if it means being wrong. We take comfort in certainty and we demand it of others, even when we know it’s impossible.”
“We demand certainty of others. We ask our bankers, doctors, and political leaders (among others) to give it to us. What they deliver, however, is the illusion of certainty. We feel comfortable with this.”
“To be sure, illusions have their function. Small children often need security blankets to soothe their fears. Yet for the mature adult, a high need for certainty can be a dangerous thing. It prevents us from learning to face the uncertainty pervading our lives.”
“Manufacturers of certainty play a crucial role in cultivating the illusion. They delude us into thinking that our future is predictable, as long as the right technology is at hand.”
“Technology changes how we see things – it amplifies the illusion of certainty.”
“Not understanding a new technology is one thing, believing that it delivers certainty is another.” -Gigerenzer
(Above quotes from https://fs.blog/2014/05/certainty-is-an-illusion/)
Myanm/art 