Hotel Modern's devotion and humour mean Our Empire is full of compassion, never unbearably dark

Object-based production in which miniatures and cameras are used to portray life in 17th-century Indonesia.

Looming in the distance as you enter the theatre you can see the contours of the scale models on the stage. The tables are crammed with miniature sets that form tiny worlds populated by tiny, 8cm-tall figures that will later come to life and tell stories of great events. Welcome to Hotel Modern, the theatre company that has made its name with its unique form of object-based theatre, and their latest play Our Empire, which brings tales from the early history of contact between the Netherlands and Indonesia.

The members of Hotel Modern are artist Herman Helle and actors Arlène Hoornweg and Pauline Kalker. In past plays they have reimagined the battlegrounds of the First World War, and the horrors of a Nazi death camp. Rather than making work that is unbearably dark, however, their obvious devotion and humour injects deep compassion into these miniature figures, these tiny puppets so carefully and caringly brought to life in beautifully constructed biotypes. We watch as, with tireless concentration, the trio move around the stage. They use their cameras with precision timing so everything  the audience sees on the large screen is bursting with life. In this case, it is life on the Indonesian Archipelago in the 17th-century, subjected to interference from external forces that is initially gradual, later increasingly active – first come the Portuguese and then the Dutch with their ‘enterprising mentality’ on colonial trade.

We see lively markets selling nutmeg and cloves, and elegant dances at the royal court; we see infighting, villages in flames, and political machinations on board a ship belonging to the Dutch East India company. This play marks a glorious start of what will become a trilogy.

23 december 2019