“The Mountain” blends the first expedition to Mount Everest, which success is still uncertain today; Orson Welles sowing panic with his radio show “The War of the Worlds”; badminton players playing baseball; a fake news website; a drone scrutinizing the audience; lots of snow; mobile screens; fragmented images; and Vladimir Putin discoursing delighted on truth and trust.
There is a widely shared image that runs through the history of ideas: climbing a mountain, overcoming all the difficulties to reach its summit and once there, being able to see the world “as it is”. See the truth and not just shadows or reflections. It is a beautiful image indeed. But is it really so? Often, looking from the top down you can see nothing but clouds and fog covering everything or a landscape that changes depending on the time of day or the weather. What is that world like then? How is that truth? Is there the truth? Is it just a peak that must be crowned and that’s it, or rather a cold and inhospitable path that must be continually climbed? A network of ideas, stories, images, actions and concepts underpins “The Mountain’s” dramaturgical framework. With these materials, unfolded in layers that intermingle creating unexpected connections, the piece is presented as an exploration without a map on the myth of truth.