Babel
Geräuschbiest - Winnipeg, MB
V.26 - West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall 
Babel retells the ancient story of people who tried to build a tower to heaven, for a world still driven to build higher and faster.
Geräuschbiest's brotherly harmonies and purpose-made new instruments shape the narrative, while the Riel Gentlemen's Choir builds a tower live onstage.
As ambition grows, unity begins to crack. When language fractures, everything starts to unravel, live in front of you.
From the creators of Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar (Winnipeg Fringe Festival 2023).

Cast:
Geoff Reimer, Dan Barkman, Andrew Martinez, Joel Smidt, Justin Fuhr, Marc Molet-King, Brendon Friesen, Rossa Tíarnaín, Blake Collis, Brandon Bertram, Jacques Nault, Thomas Krause, Joe Madden, Max Pankewycz, Jesse Krause

Director:
Jesse Krause

  		Show Info:
45 Mins minutes
Genre:
Musical

Audience:
General

No warnings

Thu July 16 4:45 PM
Sat July 18 5:15 PM
Sun July 19 8:00 PM
Wed July 22 6:30 PM
Fri July 24 4:45 PM
Sat July 25 6:30 PM
Sun July 26 3:45 PM

Babel

Geräuschbiest—West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall

With bespoke handmade string instruments, played with bows and the occasional blow, Geräuschbiest leads the Riel Gentlemen’s Choir, who act as an appropriately manly Greek (Sumerian?) chorus through an ancient parable of hubris.

The production’s powerful harmonies and striking visuals are suitable for a tale of biblical proportions. Shouty refrains from the choir punctuate the mounting tension as the performers construct something both solid and precarious on stage, reaching ever higher into the limits of the known world, not because they should but because they can.

The lyrics incorporate passages from Ecclesiastes, echoing a warning from our Abrahamic ancestors on the consequences of flippantly violating the laws of nature purely for egotistical gains. The performance feels less like a retelling than a ritual, breathing contemporary life into an ancient wisdom to sound as urgent now as it must have then.

Ashley Frantik

Babel

Geräuschbiest—West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall

The Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament (for those of you who read the Bible) is a familiar one, where the people attempt to build a tower to reach the heavens and God themselves, before the deity confuses their languages, and the tower collapses in absolute confusion. The Riel Gentlemen’s Choir (clad in carpenter’s denim and tools) bring that story to life with song and with wood. The musical instruments they use look like they were hewn from the forest itself, and the choir builds the tower on stage using planks – before it descends into madness. The power of the men’s voices and the power of the visual marry into something I’ve never seen before. It’s a true original, and a show truly worthy of the Fringe. And my praise.

Karl Eckstrand