“What if the fire isn’t the end, but the beginning?”
– From the script of The Tryouts

The Tryouts is a play by Filip Vest about crises, hope, identity, and work. It’s about all the stories we tell about ourselves, each other, and the world we live in – and about the other narratives that might be possible.

We follow three interns who have been tasked with cleaning up a warehouse after a fire. While working, they are accidentally locked inside, and to pass the time, they begin sharing stories from their lives and imagine new tales from the charred remains of the set pieces they find. Meanwhile, they navigate their own tangled identities, both minor and major crises, and the role of art in society.

The play engages in a dialogue with classic frame stories like Boccaccio’s The Decameron and the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, exploring how stories can be used to kill time, to survive, or to discuss society.”

The Tryouts are co-produced by Toaster and Rundetaarn and supported by Statens Kunstfond, Ny Carlsberg Fondet, Augustinus Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, København Kommunes Scenekunstudvalg and Statens Værksteder for Kunst.

ABOUT FILIP VEST

Filip Vest works in the intersection between visual art and performing arts. Through performance, installation, film and text, Vest examines queer love, storytelling and economics and the different ways we perform identities, roles and relationships.