We're in for a very interesting year. To put it mildly. The world's economy is being shaken to its foundations. I don't think we've come to terms with all of the reasons for this yet. Fingers of blame are pointed at politicians and investment bankers, and there's some justification for that, but there's a greater mystery: what have we become that we were so willing to mortgage our own future, our children's future, and our grandchildren's future for the sake of an avalanche of underpriced plastic toys, cheap electronics, and gigantic amusement parks for homes that, deep down, we know just don't make us happy?
There will never be a better time for us to think about what we've become, think hard, and think outside the box. Indeed, there may never be another time to do this. Artists of all stripes can make a real contribution to this difficult and painful exercise. I hope theatre like this is the thin edge of a wedge. We're all lost in the woods, like the Hansel and Gretel of old. But now the woods look very different. Because of the cocoon of modern technology we've built for ourselves everything is happening at once and all in the same place. So how can we ever feel lost? Because being everywhere feels exactly the same as being nowhere, and being everywhen feels the same as having just run out of time.
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