Courtesy photo.
Breakout hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival brings digital democracy from the audience to the stage
SUMMARY
- UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Fight Night
- Tue, Oct 15 | 8 p.m. | Campbell Hall
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- By Belgian theater company Ontroerend Goed
- Hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
- A fun and thought-provoking night of interactive theater
- Fight Night puts digital voting devices – and the fate of its candidates – into the hands of the audience
- Five contenders. Five rounds. Your vote. Only one will survive
- $37.50 – $52.50 / UCSB students $15 (Current student ID required)
- Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535
“Funny, revealing, and very invigorating… You will encounter things that no U.S. company would dare do.” Chicago Tribune
“Without even a single political reference… Fight Night makes a precarious analysis of the consensus politics our democratic system has fallen into.” De Morgen (Belgium)
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Fight Night by Ontroerend Goed on Tuesday, October 15 at 8 p.m. at Campbell Hall. In the leadup to the 2024 presidential election, innovative Belgian theater company Ontroerend Goed offers a fun and thought-provoking night of interactive theater. A critically-acclaimed hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Fight Night puts digital voting devices – and the fate of its candidates – into the hands of the audience. With no political ideology or mention of politics, this production is a sharp, impartial and completely entertaining analysis of how democracy works. Make your vote count!
Fight Night trailer
WHAT IS FIGHT NIGHT?
Five contenders. Five rounds. Your vote. Only one will survive. Fight Night puts five actors into the position of “candidates” struggling to get the audience’s sympathy and, ultimately, their vote. Only one of them will survive the relentless series of eliminations and they apply all possible tactics and strategies to assure their victory.
Set on a platform reminiscent of a boxing ring, the competition is fought not with fists but with words and looks. The audience, armed with a voting keypad, decides who stays and who goes, but gets entangled in an increasingly complex and puzzling system of rules and manipulations. As in publicized political campaigns, polls, predictions, and debates challenge the voters’ loyalty and common sense, toppling their notion of free choice in the end.
Fight Night is thoroughly political, but never explicitly so. The candidates don’t voice a particular ideology, nor do they comment on social issues or economic realities. By stripping their discourse of identifiable political messages, the show draws attention to the very reasons and motivations that compel voters to vote. What is at stake is the way the concept of “rule of the people” is put into practice in contemporary democratic societies. Fight Night illustrates how content and ideas are only relevant if they make a difference in statistics and increase the chance to gain power through numbers.
Ten years after the premiere of Fight Night, the world has changed. Back then, distrust in the system was a rather marginal phenomenon. Today, more than ever, trust in democracy is faltering. It has permeated the broadest segments of the population – and political parties.
During this event, the world will remain outside. No political statements, only a sharp analysis of how democracy works.
ABOUT THE COMPANY: ONTROEREND GOED
Theater performance group Ontroerend Goed (a punning name, roughly translated as “Feel Estate”) produces self-devised work grounded in the here and now, inviting their audiences to participate as well as observe. They first emerged on the international scene in 2007, with The Smile Off Your Face, a one-on-one show in which the audience is tied to a wheelchair and then blindfolded. Their hit show Once and For All was an uncompromising celebration of raw teenage energy on stage. With every new piece of work, Ontroerend Goed provides an intense experience constructed in reality; life goes on during the performance. The company has won numerous prizes across Europe and has hit New York, Sydney and London to critical acclaim. Their work is currently being performed in countries around the world.
Ontroerend Goed functions as a collective guided by the artistic director Alexander Devriendt. Convinced that every idea deserves its own brand of artistic expression, the company cherishes a sense of ownership for every single contributor to their work, from actors to light designers, scenographers to conceptual thinkers. Ontroerend Goed fabricates possible realities that question how we as individuals position ourselves in the world today. Covering a history of the universe in one evening, turning spectators into voters who eliminate actors, guiding strangers through a labyrinth of mirrors and avatars to meet themselves, the company has made it its trademark to be unpredictable in content and form.
Ontroerend Goed is Alexander Devriendt, Charlotte De Bruyne, Karolien De Bleser, Angelo Tijssens, Aurélie Lannoy, Leonore Spee, Samir Veen, Julia Ghysels, Remi Cosijn, Wim Smet, Beth Thyrion, Jitske Vandenbussche, Hannes Pieters, Luna Boone and Justine Boutens.
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
Fight Night is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures in association with UCSB Department of Theater and Dance.
Tickets are $37.50 – $52.50 / UCSB students $15 (Current student ID required)
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges 2024-2025 Season Sponsor Sara Miller McCune.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2024-2025 season.
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Press photos are available upon request. Contact Arts & Lectures Senior Writer / Publicist Charles Donelan, charles.donelan@artsandlectures.ucsb.edu
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