Commitment Phobe

“We abide by cultural directives that urge us: clarify each thought, each experience, so you can cull from them their single, dominant meaning and, in the process, become a responsible adult who knows what he or she thinks.”
Richard Foreman, quoted in The Art of Cruelty, Maggie Nelson

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Know where you stand.
Know what you think.
Know what you want.
Take a position.

But what if strong positions are no longer workable in a world that is endlessly changing?

Commitment Phobe is an exploration of doubt in a society that values certainty. It is a response to a perceived social and cultural demand for the clear, the sure, and the consistent – ways that we are taught it is worthwhile and understandable for a person to be. And to the seeming necessity to take strong, unambiguous, personal and political positions, along binary lines.

In a live experiment Ira and performer Tiana Hemlock-Yensen research what it means to not know, to not choose, and to keep moving.

How can we conceive of doubt as a strength without making ourselves powerless? What does it mean to not ‘take a position’ as a political choice? Commitment Phobe is an exploration of the space between yes and no. A dedication to doubt.

The project’s first research period took place supported by Frascati Amsterdam, February – March 2020, for their Fraslab programme. Since 2022 Ira is a maker with Frascati Producties, and Commitment Phobe premiered at Frascati in April 2023.

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Upcoming touring:
Theaterszene Europa Festival, 23rd September 2023, Cologne, Germany

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Past tour dates:
Beyond the Black Box at Monty, 13th May 2023, Antwerp, Belgium
NOW 23 at The Yard, 2nd-6th May 2023, London, England
Frascati, 19th-22nd April 2023 (Premiere), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Produced by Frascati Producties in coproduction with wpZimmer, C-Takt, Festival Cement, and The Yard Theatre.