Vancouver Community Gamelan in association with Vancouver Independent Music Centre Society (VIM) and Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, presents: 

Show on Earth: Wallace Line and Deep Time

An intercultural shadowplay, featuring Ali and Alfred Russel Wallace's Journey into Deep Time. Inspired by Balinese wayang (shadow puppetry).

Based on a true story.

Gamelan gendèr wayang (gongs and tuned percussive instruments), Western strings, and projections.

Between a spectacle and a meditation, this performance is for all curious listeners and connoisseurs of storytelling!

Featuring Gamelan Turtle Bliss with special guests Ryan Swaryandana (gendèr), Parmela Attariwala (violin), Sarah Kwok (viola), and Sungyong Lim (cello).

TWO PERFORMANCE DATES (Same show, two dates):

Monday, July 22, 2024
Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Sliding-scale tickets
$20/ $25/ $30 ($15 for children 12 and under)

Tickets at the door available starting at 6:30 PM

Venue: Performance Works, Granville Island
1218 Cartwright St, Vancouver

Show: 7:30 pm
Box office opens: 6:30 pm
Theatre opens: 7:00 pm

About Show on Earth:

Show on Earth is an intercultural shadowplay for Balinese gender wayang (a style of Balinese metallophone instruments used for shadow puppet theatre), Western strings (cello, viola, violin), shadow puppetry, and interactive projections, based on the evolution of life on Earth.

Show on Earth is a two-part story of discovery and understanding. In 1854 British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, working in tandem with Ali, from Sarawak, Borneo, begins an 8 year period of travel throughout the Malay Archipelago—now Indonesia–in search of unusual species of flora and fauna. Also in search of the mechanism that drives evolution.

Their journey reaches a pivotal point on Ternate Island, with the unexpected arrival of present day scientists Lynn Margulis and Richard Dawkins. The journey transforms into a pilgrimage through deep time, with unexpected points of discovery— Australopithicus—Saurus— Tiktaalik—Burgess Shale—Eukaryote—on the way to the cellular origins of life 3.5 billion years ago.
Based on true events in the scientific world, Show on Earth billows out from Wallace’s eureka moment in a malarial delirium into a fantastical mixture of fact, fiction, hallucination, experimentation, raw imagination...and science, exploring the evolution of life on Earth over an unfathomably long time.

A dalang (shadow puppeteer) will provide action, dialogue, commentary, song, and incantations interwoven with live projections of shifting scenery (evoking a sense of traveling through time and space), and dream-like images of a human consciousness endeavouring to comprehend the principles driving evolution.
Spectacle and meditation, this performance is essential for all curious listeners and connoisseurs of storytelling!

Not sure what Gamelan is? Here is an example of what to expect:

Participants & Musians:

Michael O’Neill - artistic director / composer / musician: gendér

Andreas Kahre - dramaturge / scenography / puppet design / voice actor

Mark Parlett - dalang / puppet design and construction / musician (suling)

Kenneth Newby - projection design, soundscape design

Mark Parlett/David Prentice -puppet design and construction

Sylvia Zaradic - voice actor

Ann Hepper - gong, administration

Wendy Chen - gendér

Kaia Stoesz - gendér

Ryan Swaryandana - gendér

Parmela Attariwala - violin

Sarah Kwok - viola

Sungyong Lim - cello

This show is produced in partnership with Vancouver Independent Music Centre Society and the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, with funding and support from and Canada Council for the Arts and BC Community Gaming.

For more information or interviews, please contact Diane Kadota at info@vimhouse.ca or at (604) 728-8240.

Accessibility:

Performance Works is audience wheelchair and scooter accessible, including washrooms, with no steps or stairs from the street to the theatre, or within the theatre.