Last Call

The dull hum of the city underscores Flemish music theatre company Het nieuwstedelijk’s dramatisation of Philip Parquet’s graphic novel, Dansen Drinken Betalen. Two musicians combine electro-jazz with spoken word and multimedia to envision the nomadic life of protagonist Sara as she wanders the cobbled streets of Amsterdam searching for recreation.

Musician Sara Vertongen produces a thumping mix of bass beats and comic sound effects that replicate the bustle of the city. Sara drifts from party to party, wondering if any of the "important people" she meets will even register her existence. Her loneliness is scored against the clinking of wine glasses and the snap of camera lenses. Is she just a ghost in a city of deadbeats? “Is there anything going on tonight?” she asks with faint disgust.

Commentaries on the circularity and aimlessness of city life abound in this moody telling of Parquet’s novel. It is beautifully paced by writer/director Adriaan Van Aken, relying on projections from the novel itself, which seem to stalk Sara through the night with both playful and sinister intent. It draws a smoky, sumptuous geography of Amsterdam, pierced by Sara’s free movement through its people and places.

Yet the story’s rhythm is frequently reset as performers start new chapters. Just as Sara begins to reveal more about her feelings toward the people around her, she departs. This is an often captivating, hallucinatory journey into the disorientation of despair – tonally exquisite but lacking a greater investment in its narrative thread.