The Glory Machine is a theatre performance consisting entirely and solely of filming and editing a promotional trailer for the performance itself. We observe the rapid-fire setup and recording of eighty microscenes, which are simultaneously edited and arranged into a short trailer video. Conceived as a virus, The Glory Machine follows social media logic by producing its own promotional material to reproduce itself indefinitely.
The piece was inspired by the ways in which we curate and perform idealized versions of ourselves online through social media platforms and beyond. By privileging the development of web presence over the performance itself, The Glory Machine archly proposes an all-in investment into “cultural capital”, responding to (by playing along with) the labor obligatorily required to generate online presence and social media outreach.
The piece was inspired by the ways in which we curate and perform idealized versions of ourselves online through social media platforms and beyond. By privileging the development of web presence over the performance itself, The Glory Machine archly proposes an all-in investment into “cultural capital”, responding to (by playing along with) the labor obligatorily required to generate online presence and social media outreach.
“It is a laborious madness and an impoverishing one, the madness of composing vast books, setting out in five hundred pages an idea that can be perfectly related orally in five minutes. The better way to go about it is to pretend that those books already exist, and offer a summary, a commentary on them.“
– Jorge Luis Borges, introduction to The Garden of Forking Paths
– Jorge Luis Borges, introduction to The Garden of Forking Paths
Promotional interview, Veem House for Performance: https://vimeo.com/692552589?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=90976658
“SUPEREFFICIËNTE TRAILEROPNAME WIJST OP GEVAREN AANDACHTSECONOMIE”
Critic's pick, Theaterkrant: https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/the-glory-machine/billy-mullaney-tilt-veem-house-for-performance-productiehuis-tr/
"...the attention economy is eroding and taking over politics, the media and other departments of the public domain from within. The Glory Machine offers no real resistance or a solution. It very lovingly puts its finger on the sore spot. Well worth it." –Theaterkrant [google translation to english mine]
"Beste nieuwe tekst/choreografie/libretto"
https://www.theaterkrant.nl/tm-artikel/de-critici-over-seizoen-2021-2022/?fbclid=IwAR1uMIDjriRchXpq6kFZ1t1EhMALGiTVIjUQfOlX-_EWlRH3jAC1Atn5atU
Best new text/choreography/libretto for 2022 –Theaterkrant
“SUPEREFFICIËNTE TRAILEROPNAME WIJST OP GEVAREN AANDACHTSECONOMIE”
Critic's pick, Theaterkrant: https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/the-glory-machine/billy-mullaney-tilt-veem-house-for-performance-productiehuis-tr/
"...the attention economy is eroding and taking over politics, the media and other departments of the public domain from within. The Glory Machine offers no real resistance or a solution. It very lovingly puts its finger on the sore spot. Well worth it." –Theaterkrant [google translation to english mine]
"Beste nieuwe tekst/choreografie/libretto"
https://www.theaterkrant.nl/tm-artikel/de-critici-over-seizoen-2021-2022/?fbclid=IwAR1uMIDjriRchXpq6kFZ1t1EhMALGiTVIjUQfOlX-_EWlRH3jAC1Atn5atU
Best new text/choreography/libretto for 2022 –Theaterkrant
Photos by Thomas Lenden
Credits
Created by Billy Mullaney
Performed by Esmée Begemann, Elliot Dehaspe, Jimmy Grima, Maja Grzeczka, Billy Mullaney, Ylva Rietman, and Tom de Ronde
Light and technique Mathisse Coornaert
Artistic advice Andrea Božić and Konstantina Georgelou
Production Marco Heijne
Management TILT: Marieke van Bueren
Produced by TILT & Veem House for Performance
Co-produced by Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam
Special thanks to Ruth Borg and Laura Boser
Made possible by the financial contribution of NORMA fonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Janivo Stichting, and Kickstart Cultuurfonds
Research made possible by DAS Theatre & Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds/Horizon
