"L'Addition" by Tim Etchells, extracts

Two performers come onstage to attempt to play a scene, or rather "the scene”: a customer orders a drink from a waiter. And then things go awry. Played again and again, with nonstop dialogue or in absolute silence, “the scene” starts spinning out of control. Nightmarish spiral or grotesque farce? Roles and relationships of power flip back and forth, to the point that we no longer know who’s the victim and who’s the bully, who's serving and who's being served. Backstage, British director and Forced Entertainment artistic director Tim Etchells orchestrates a hilarious and explosive performance, brilliantly executed by duo Bert & Nasi. Together, the three of them play with the mechanisms of theatre as much as with power relationships—but in the end, someone has to pay the bill. With its repetitions and reversals, its moments of rehearsed improvisation, its precise writing, and its mastery of the slapstick, the story takes us on a wild ride, changing, playful, and fierce. Constantly navigating between registers and genres, it opens onto an infinite variety of possibilites, reflected in the many venues this travelling show will visit.