This experimental drama takes us on two mysterious journeys, side by side. Both are meticulously sourced from life and plumbed to their depths. One is of the Malaysia Airlines flight that set off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people on board in 2014 and disappeared along its flight path. The other is the psychic voyage of a father’s disappearance into dementia.
The parallels become more apparent as the German theatre company Rimini Protokoll perform this arresting, meditative piece, co-produced by Manchester international festival. There are lacunae at the centre of both narratives: “Where are you?” and “Where did you go?” are repeated questions in Helgard Haug’s spare yet immensely eloquent script. Around the central fog in both stories are those left behind – witnesses and mourners, from the relatives of those on the flight to Haug herself, as the daughter of her unnamed German father. Metaphysical inquiries around uncertainty and death intersect, leaving lingering mysteries.
