SYNOPSIS & PREMISSE
A 70-minute performance for two singers and an unseen “booth voice.” The same song plays over and over throughout the evening. The singers perform live while the booth voice — audible only to them — issues directions that alter tone, harmony and hierarchy.
The first instruction is simple: the female voice must remain lower, secondary, always shadowing the male. A fader moves, her line drops, his stays forward. The rule is unheard, but its effect is unmistakable.
As the song returns, new rules multiply — each born from fear of backlash, misunderstanding, or reputational harm. The music itself becomes anxious: lines shorten, words vanish, harmonies flatten and loud moments retreat at “risky” words.
Gradually, the singers anticipate the rules. They self-edit, producing a version already “safe.” Through repetition, the audience perceives this drift by ear, rather than through explanation.
The work asks:
– When do protection and prudence become censorship?
– How do institutions, audiences and artists jointly shape what can still be sung and heard?
The answer is not spoken.
It is held — in one sustained note that lingers longer than the rules allow.