“The Great War” (2001) is an epic poem about the First World War, during which modern weapons were used for the first time: tanks, machine guns, flame throwers, and poisonous gas. At the basis of this performance is a letter by a rench soldier, Prospert, to his mother, which was found by a friend of Hotel Modern in an antique shop in Marsellei.
In order to tell this story and visualise the letters of Prospert and other soldiers, Hotel Modern created a special theatrical form – live animation. Working directly in front of the audience’s eyes, the artists manipulate mud, peas, smoke candles, brushes, and parsley in order to create, for example, a smallbattlefield. Filmed and then projected on a large movie screen, these miniature scenes are transformed into hyper-realistic battle episodes.