BACKGROUND

In a world caught between life and death, we see unfurling a poetic collage of memories, fears and desires, lovers and family, all of them related in some way to his decision to let go of life. Lost is about the mystery of a suicide and the role of those around him when he lets go and falls. Ahlbom immersed himself in the desperate sense of being beset with adversity in a life from which there seems to be no escape. He watched documentaries about people who had attempted suicide, and he was touched by the words, “Suicide is not a ticket to paradise, it is a way out of hell.” He wondered what the furthest limits are to the setbacks that a human being can tolerate. The painful question that fascinated him was this: What if, in those final few seconds as your life passes in front of you, you were to discover something worth living for, something of strength and beauty? It would be too late, because you’d have already jumped.

MORE INFORMATION

Ahlbom worked with live musicians for this play. He believes live music underscores emotional effect and boosts the play’s impact. He went in search of a style of music that would complement his ideas on staging and movement. When he came across the Amsterdam-Friesian rock band Solbakken he knew he’d found just the tone he needed. They are the motor that propels the scenes forward with a sensitive pulse. The music became an essential component of the play. Having the band’s full line-up onstage gives them an autonomous power that adds to the play’s uniqueness.
Ahlbom dedicated Lost to his deceased brother. It can be seen as the closing piece in a triptych (together with Nur Zur Erinnerung and Stella Maris). The central theme of all three plays is mental disorder, and they each explore the psyche of one man.