In ‘among us’, moving miniatures of lonely, wandering people unfold ★★★★☆

A generic block of flats in a medium-sized city. Four floors, four residents, below and above each other. They have the same Billy bookcases, perhaps a replica of Breuer’s Wassily chair. They do the laundry, they cook, they eat, they defecate, sometimes even at the same time. All of them carry sorrow with them; they feel longing and lack. They don’t know each other, but they share a lot, neighbors Oliona (Malou Gorter), Wensley (Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen), Abbe (Teuntje Post) and Diana (Charlene Sancho).

In Among us by director Nina Spijkers, the stage is divided into four areas. The block of flats has been reduced to one floor, with the four lives cleverly pushed together. In addition to an ingenious set design (studio Dennis Vanderbroeck), this is also striking in terms of content. Because we can still feel so isolated in our separate apartments, if you zoomed out, illuminated the roof and facade of the flat, you would see dozens of lives like ours. How much we have in common is imperceptibly reflected in the design of Among us visible in a moving way.

The setup is reminiscent of the show Our street (Daria Bukvic, 2019) and the series A’dam – EVA, in which divergent human lives skim past in a loose mosaic narrative, which sometimes, very briefly, intertwine for a moment. Just like in Our street joins the audience below U.S on four stands around the playing floor – anonymous neighbors, anonymous spectators. The audience is part of the same whole; part of the problem, but also part of the solution.

The four characters tell about each other’s lives, in self-written, rhythmic monologues in rhyme, which are reminiscent of spoken word in melody and dynamics. We get to know them a little: Oliona, who toils in home care, Abbe, who has been kicked out of the home by his wife, Wensley, who has lost his mother, and Diana, who prefers dogs to people. In this way, moving miniatures of lonely, wandering people unfold – very ordinary people, just like us. Sometimes their lives are suddenly synchronized, they simultaneously perform the same action and a surprising choreography of alienation and connection is created.

There is also a connection through music, and that is perhaps the best find. The four actors sing – polyphonic, a cappella – beautiful songs, such as Into my Arms from Nick Cave. The polyphony is the greatest asset here: you don’t create such beautiful harmonies alone – in the end we are at our best together. We need eachother.

Director Spijkers and her four actors, who also created the performance together, put their words into action in a heartwarming epilogue, by bringing the spectators into contact with each other in a surprising, casual way. That ultimately makes everyone happier, so why is it usually so difficult?