Three Ballads, a Story and My Mother’s Estate
Maike Lond (Estonia)The agreed starting point of the production is a letter that the director sent to the dramaturge in 2023. From this first letter, material began to unfold that reflects on the course of life and its documentation – the small achievements that do not find a place in a biography, but which have a decisive role on future, past and present..
This first letter from the director went almost like this:
“A while ago I heard a punk song called “We Tried Nothing And We Are All Out Of Ideas”. Obviously the song was shit, because what else would you expect from a band that didn’t even try to come up with a title. It’s a quote from The Simpsons – Ned’s parents take him to a program for misbehaving children and tell the program host: we tried nothing and we are all out of ideas.
The upcoming production is exactly that – it doesn’t try anything, it doesn’t invent or offer anything new; it probably doesn’t even discover anything new.
So here we are. It is what it is.
A play for everyone who feels they are neither here nor there. Like me. Like you.”
Of course, all of this is irrelevant, as the conversation was joined by a high school graduate and the director’s only child, who doesn’t even have a CV and isn’t interested in any of this.
Three Ballads, a Story and My Mother’s Estate is about two people moving further, moving on.
EASY-READ VERSION
In 2023, director Maike Lond sent a letter to a dramaturge.
The letter began like this:
“A while ago I heard a punk song called
We Tried Nothing And We Are All Out Of Ideas.
The song was bad.
But what else would you expect?
The band does not even have a name!
But the song title comes from The Simpsons.
I am making a new play.
And I feel about the play
the same as about that song.
I am not trying to invent anything new.
But the play still develops.
It will probably not show people anything new.
But they will still watch it.
It is simply a play for everyone who does not belong.
Like me.
Like you.”
Over time, their letters became the basis for the play.
Later, the director added another character.
It is her son.
He has just finished high school.
He is not interested in anything.
The performance is about two people.
They simply keep living.
One day at a time.
They keep moving forward.
ABOUT ARTIST
Maike Lond (1981) has a diploma from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. She is an artist working in the frame of white cube as well as black box. Maike is one of the initiators of an artist collective MIMproject and performing arts venue elektron.art. Her installations and performances (“Postuganda”, “10 journeys to a place where nothing happens*”, “99 Words for Void”, “Nobody’s Radio”) have been displayed and shown in theaters, media centers and festivals around Europe. She is a light designer and dramaturge. She works in kitchens and bars and plays guitar in a noise rock band. Maike is living and working in Tallinn, Estonia.
CREDITS
Performance: Maike Lond, Lukas Jansen and Kim Noble
On stage: Maike Lond and Lukas Jansen
Dramaturge: Kim Noble
Sound: Ken-Eerik Kannike, Maike Lond and Lukas Jansen
Choreographer: Daniela Privis
Scenography: Linda Mai Kari
Light and technical support: Henry Kasch
Project Manager: Eneli Järs
Co-Producers: Maike Lond, Kanuti Gildi SAAL
Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Local Producer: Dārta Priedniece (New Theatre Institute of Latvia)
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Trigger Warnings
There is (non-cigarette) smoke in the performance.
Performance contains explicit language.
Recommended for ages 14 and over