When Tempus met Utopia.
www.tempopia.com
Ranging from coupons to cultural fairs, there are numerous efforts to motivate a handful of people to come to the venue and enjoy a show. The struggle is real for 355 days a year. For ten days every summer however, 18.000 pilgrims travel over land and sea in order to quench their thirst for theatre during the Oerol festival held on the Dutch island Terschelling. For us – who have lost our heart to this art form – this sounds utopian.
But utopias are usually designed to last for eternity, which is the reason they transform into dystopia’s. Just imagine 365 days of watching three performances, eating 2 pounds of cranberries and having one too many shots of Juttersbitter. The utopian gathering on Terschelling works so well thanks to its being temporary. From this thought the temporary utopia of TEMPOPIA was born.
In the summer of 2015, Moeremans&Sons and the Noord Nederlands Toneel found TEMPOPIA (tempus meets utopia). For ten days we live there according to our own idealistic rules and thus give a breath of fresh air to the thought of enlightenment.
During a day of TEMPOPIA we successively stimulate the body, the mind, the imagination, the stomach …and the imagination yet again!
More concretely speaking: the day starts off with a session of TEMPOPIA MOVES, not your everyday fitness to say the least. Afterwards, it is time to prepare the meal during PEELING POTATOES WITH..: cutting the vegetables whilst being presented philosophical enquiries about communal sense and the utopian thought.
With a plea for gossip as a means of social legislature, SHOOT THE MESSENGER is the first performance of the day before being invited to a shared dinner with the audience and all members of Moeremans&Sons. During this feast, FEED ME, TEACH ME is a desert for those willing to be stimulated: we invite a range of guest speakers to present us with their extraordinary expertise ranging from Icelandic mythology to deciphering the singing of birds.
To crown it all in utopian style, we continue the day with the performance of CRASHTEST IBSEN: NORA. Nora, too, tries to found a utopia of her own and finds herself at the gates of Tempopia with a removal van loaded with her set and accompanying characters.
Moeremans & Sons 