‘The Zone of Silence’ is a performance piece by the Augenhaus ensemble. The piece takes the form of a poem linked by original and themed sung musical pieces. It is performed by two characters, ‘The Singer’ and ‘The Narrator’, with two neutral musicians providing the accompaniment. The characters alternate in their performances, first a spoken piece, then a musical illustration performance.

 

The poetic thread of ‘The Zone of Silence’ addresses a multiple of layers of meaning focusing on the impact of a mega city on the human condition, both in the present and recent past. The social psychology of a city and its individuals’ breakdown are explored through themes of identity, psychological dislocation and isolation.

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The piece steps backwards and forwards in time in a shifting reality, linking these human themes and connecting with recurring experiences. The use of literary allusion gives the pieces an edgy quality. In the song ‘Dark City’ the sense of loneliness and isolation is examined through hallucinations and delusions and in ‘I Died Yesterday’ the inhabiting of the nowhere spaces of London’s infrastructure is imagined through a paranoia of dissociative imagery. The opening song, ‘White Rose’ is written from an ironic and flawed every-man position, exposing the fragile nature of a dark male psychology, and the ever inventive means society uses to attempt to ‘control’ woman.