When Prophecy Fails, EIF dance and physical theatre review: 'beautifully choreographed'
Scottish company Groupwork’s dance piece about a real-life 1950s doomsday cult conveys a subtle message about cognitive dissonance, writes Kelly Apter.
When Prophecy Fails ★★★★
Studio Theatre until 30 August
By its very nature, a textbook is one step removed from the subject it’s studying. So it stands to reason that, having been inspired by a book about an event (rather than the event itself), this highly stylised show takes an observer’s view.
In 1956, the publication of When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World, will have landed quite differently to today. In an era when whole towns are being washed away by climate change, however, Scottish company Groupwork has a subtle message to send about cognitive dissonance.
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On a stage populated by desks, sofas, telephones and typewriters, situating the action squarely in 1950s America, five performers portray both the doomsday cult and the people who studied them. Convinced they were receiving messages from extra terrestrial beings, close-knit group ‘The Seekers’ readied themselves for a cataclysmic flood that would wipe away all but them.
We find out what they were thinking and feeling via recorded voiceovers, leaving the performers largely free to execute Vicki Manderson’s imaginative choreography. New members are recruited and preparations made, while friends and family become increasingly concerned about their mental health. All of this is conveyed with precision and clarity, both vocally and visually.
But while we get a sense of just how committed the group members were (one woman opines that she left her job and spent all her money, so the world really had better end), we never get beneath the skin of why, psychologically, they think this way.
Although engaging throughout, When Prophecy Fails reaches new emotional depth when the fated moment arrives but no flood appears. As they look silently up to the rising sun, fearful but unshakeable, we see the desperate underbelly of their belief, in a beautifully-choreographed moment of vulnerability. Kelly Apter
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