Lucinda Childs and Robert Wilson Revive 'Relative Calm' as an Augmented Version

Lucinda Childs and Robert Wilson have revived their 1981 collaboration 'Relative Calm' in an augmented version, presented at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris from November 30 to December 3, 2023, and at Parvis – Scène nationale de Tarbes from December 7-8, 2023. The piece, originally created 42 years ago, is not a simple recreation but a continuation, described by Wilson as 'like a clock measuring the succession of hours of the day.' Childs, now 83, performs barefoot, reciting passages from Nijinsky's diary. The work features music by Jon Gibson, John Adams, and Stravinsky's 'Pulcinella,' with choreography for the MP3 Dance Project. The revival follows a controversial 2023 production of 'Einstein on the Beach' by Susanne Kennedy, which reduced the opera from 5 to 3.5 hours and replaced Wilson's neon imagery with post-apocalyptic sets by Markus Selg. This 'Relative Calm' reboot confirms the enduring chemistry between Childs and Wilson, blending mathematics and hypnosis into a hypnotic dance of hours.