Picnolepsy means a state of absence, a momentary lapse in consciousness. For the picnoleptic, the aim is to escape from time, to tip the balance of the world experienced. The result is the time spent ‘away’, a ‘disrupted time’. In the performance the arias of Purcell’s operas that use the ‘language’ of angels and are close to contemporary music inspire us to find and explore this ‘missing’ time. Thus they are matched to Ágens’s arias that are inspired by baroque opera and aim at the transcendent. Purcell picnolepsy neglects traditional dramaturgy, it conveys decisive experiences of existence. The audience enter the story which ‘has begun’ or ‘has been going on for an uncertain period’, and when they leave, they will not take the actual story along, but the sensation of the story, its inner idea. The figures and pictures appearing on stage function as signs; they strengthen or weaken the power of the story tailored to the individual as if they were judges of a True or False ‘game’. There is no grand climax since there are constant climaxes… we can see the pure inner vision of the human mind, the ecstasy of the clear voice. ‘Purcell picnolepsy’ is the secret, inner mapping of the incredible desire for the unequivocal, clear forms, frozen worlds without temptations, understandable systems, the harmony and the unity of the human being.

Ágens’s otherworldly voice and Krisztián Gergye’s choreography, which uses special Javanese dance elements, already appeared together on stage in the contemporary dance opera Tenebrae. Tenebrae dealt with darkness and the world of Daimon, but now, with the help of visual artist
József Tasnádi, they turn to the ‘superior worlds’ and wish to explore and portray these.

(Csaba Kutszegi)