A surreal adventure in to your inner world
Entering what first appears to be a classical escape room, the audience encounters riddles, symbols and hidden clues. They are met by three psychopomps – guides between the conscious and the unconscious. As the performance unfolds, the space gradually transforms into a dreamlike inner landscape where the boundaries between reality and imagination begin to dissolve.
Rooted in the artistic team’s lived experiences of existential distress, serious illness and gender transition, The Escape Room explores personal transformation through an immersive theatrical experience. The performance questions contemporary therapeutic paradigms that frame the self as something to optimize and repair and time as something to be controlled and maximised.
Inspired by surrealism, the work approaches the dream not as an escape from reality, but as a form of resistance. The result is an enchanting, humorous, and existential experience that does not encourage escape, but to enter the unknown.
The performance is created by the Malmö-based performing arts group Tlön in collaboration with SWEETS (formerly PotatoPotato Performing Arts) and the venue KONTRÄR.
WORKING GROUP ARTIST BIOS
- Linda Forsell is a curator and one of the artistic directors of the Stockholm-based venue Konträr, as well as a director, healer and performer. In her artistic practice, she explores themes of emptiness, spirituality and death, often engaging deeply with subcultural phenomena in order to create alternative perspectives on urgent social questions. Within the independent performing arts collective PotatoPotato Performing arts, Linda has directed and performed in approximately 35 productions. She is currently part of the newly founded independent group SWEETS, together with Freja Hallberg and Jenny Möller Jensen.
- Adrian Kautsky is a theatre-maker, theatre technician and performer, trained at the Malmö Theatre Academy. Adrian has extensive experience creating and performing in interactive performances and theatre works, including projects at Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö and with the performing arts groups Tjön and Fördärvet. Adrian also works as a technical coordinator at PotatoPotato’s venue in Malmö.
- Ambrose Watts is a music producer, sound designer and performer, holding a Master’s degree in Religious Studies. Ambrose is also part of the team at Konträr and most recently performed in the production I, THE END. His work often bridges music, ritual, performance and scholarly research.
On stage: Linda Forsell, Adrian Kautsky and Ambrose Watts
Supported by: The city of Malmö, The Swedish Arts Council & Nordic Culture Point
In collaboration: Teater Viirus & KONTRÄR