Osama the Hero

performance
In this text by Dennis Kelly, fifteen-year-old Gary has to give a lecture about a modern hero. He chooses Osama bin Laden, unconsciously provoking his fellow students and local residents. He is then accused of a series of garage fires and terrorism, and in a cellar he is interrogated by the local residents. The underbelly is a compass, and media formats are an instruction manual for life.

design
The players stand on a reflecting stage, and only speak via microphones and cameras. They shoot video of themselves and others with their iPhones. The projections are beamed onto the walls, black plastic with white paint, and these projections are then filmed again, etc. The resulting Droste effect becomes even more confusing when the players start filming in the mirrors of the stage with their phones. An infinite mediality of repetition and magnification is created. The aggressive visual style contrasts with the subdued ending of the piece, in which the local residents share a glimmer of humanity in long, calm monologues.