Blasieholmskajen, Stockholm, night. A vague glow from the surrounding windows light up the square. Streetlights create circles on the ground. The night portier meanders back and forth outside of Grand Hôtels lit up entrance, wearing a tall black hat and tail coat. The ticking from the pedestrian crossing echoes over the deserted scene. Suddenly there’s a movement in one of the banks windows. In the glasses frosted stipes a broken up reflection of two figures can be seen. The ticking grows louder, and the figures materialize on the sidewalk outside of the bank, watching the tv screens set in its windows. They’re wearing modern suites, but with anachronistic details. A lace arm cuff and low heeled leather shoes with bows can be glimpsed. They start to tell the story of someone they often meet here, Rameau.

In Denis Diderots dialogue Le Neveau de Rameau, a charlatanesque figure is described, with a relativistic view on truth and morals. He makes his way as a gig worker in 18th century Paris, playing the part the emerging bourgoisie is willing to pay for at a given moment: music teacher, panderer, violinist or fool. With him, the line between person and persona is blurred. The characters in 1 x tragedy 1 x farce seem to be rehearsing lines from Diderots dialogue, with an equally disintegrated sense of self. They seem to be stuck in time, or outside of time, but bound to this place.