The power of lies

It begins as a delicate network of shoots. Just a moment ago, Annedore Kleist's face was visible. In a large-scale projection, she explains that every person tells 200 lies a day. At least, that is the common belief. As the actress speaks, the screen continues to grow. The harmless mycelium from the beginning has become an ulcer, a toxic fungus that covers everything like an opaque film.

This is just one of many visual metaphors that Nico and the Navigators have devised for their new production to explore a phenomenon that seems to be increasingly encroaching on our everyday lives: lies and their modern counterparts, fake news. Giving the piece the title ‘The Whole Truth About Lies’ already highlights an important characteristic of lying, namely the absoluteness of the assertion, which, on closer inspection, can collapse just as quickly.

In typical Nico and the Navigators style, the ensemble led by Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske interweaves music, text and dance into a multi-layered collage that – perhaps even more than usual – seeks to play with the illusory power of the theatrical surface. AI image generators are used to boost the visual sleight of hand. In a madcap ride, the images morph through a panopticon of alienation. Naturally, the themes of social media power and mass manipulation are also explored. Who would be surprised to see figures such as Trump, Putin and Marine Le Pen emerge from this carousel of characters? Probably no one.

From small untruths in private life to big lies on the political stage, the subject of lying inherently has a lot of negative potential. The fact that the evening still has a striking number of poetic moments is mainly due to an old illusion technique that Nico and the Navigators have unearthed: ‘Pepper's Ghost’. Developed around 1860 by British innovator John Henry Pepper, a semi-transparent, tilted mirror creates astonishing stage effects. When the performers lie on the floor and move, the vertical projection makes it look as if they are floating or flying through the air. It's a dramaturgical trick that also holds up a mirror to the audience: we see ‘the lie’ and yet succumb to its visual appeal.

Musically, too, the evening delves deep into the classical and contemporary repertoire for the soundtrack to deceiving and being deceived: the arc spans from Handel's baroque invocation of guardian angels to Chopin's ‘Funeral March Sonata,’ Schumann songs à la ‘Ich grolle nicht’ to ‘Little Lies’ by Fleetwood Mac and ‘Gimme Some Truth’ by John Lennon.

Will we go home with ‘The Whole Truth about Lies’? Perhaps not, but we will certainly have plenty of food for thought. 

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