A man and a stone, alone in a white room. It couldn’t be much more simplified, but it leaves room for an intricate and elaborate piece on the actual meaning of things. What is the purpose of all our efforts?

With their subtle sense of humour and physical wit, they take on the most ungratifying task of all; the story of Sisyphus rolling his stone all the way to the top, only to see it roll back down again. Written by Albert Camus in 1942, The Myth of Sisyphus became the starting point for the creative team. The astonishing last line from the book ”One must imagine Sisyphus happy” triggered their imaginations, and made Bethke and Bjurman look into the task of our everyday struggles. What gives meaning to our lives? Is it the vain search for meaning, or the actual struggle itself?

Lars Bethke and Peder Bjurman have previously created the physical comedy Slapstick played at Rival in Stockholm 2008, and the visual theatre piece Enter Numan at The House of Dance in Stockholm 2009. Both were critically acclaimed and loved by audiences. They will now take on one of the greatest stories of ancient Greece, but in a contemporary context and in their own unique way.

Bethke and Bjurman conclude that the piece is simple but thought provoking, and visually intriguing, with a stunning and cinematic musical score.

It’s a ballet of signs, a visual concert and a philosophical spectacle. It’s unlike anything they’ve done before.

Please listen to New Tango Orquesta’s music on: www.nto.nu

Lars Bethke is one of Sweden’s most versatile performers, who frequently also works as director and choreographer. After his diverse education in Stockholm, Wisconsin, New York and Los Angeles, his career as a dancer started at the Grand Théâtre de Géneve in Switzerland. He has worked with renowned choreographers, such as Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek and Birgit Cullberg.

He directed the very succesful Cirkus Cirkör performances Virus Inne and Virus ute. His version (direction and choreography) of the musical Fame took him from Stockholm to the stages of London and New York, with tours through the UK, Germany, Canada and the US. He has played several roles for the Swedish big screen, among them Tjocktjuven and Se Upp För Dårarna, and numerous appearances in Swedish and German TV-series.

Recently he has performed in Haunted Dancehall by Reich+Szyber at Orionteatern in Stockholm 2006, The Chechov Garden by Birgitta Egerblad at Stockholms Stadsteater, and the part of Clarence in Richard The Third, with the Swedish National Touring Theatre (Riksteatern). His choreograhphy of Cabaret at the Stockholm Stadsteater 2008, and his role of Ernst Ludwig were greatly appreciated by critics and audiences.

With Peder Bjurman, Bethke was co-creator of the physical comedy Slapstick and the visual theater piece Enter Numan, both in which he also starred.

Peder Bjurman, director and scriptwriter, works in the field of visual theatre, combining movement, imagery and music with strong abstract or narrative texts. His performances often blend the tragical with the poetic or comic, and his stagings are shown on smaller experimental venues as well as the larger theatres. He gives equal importance to light, sound, set and the actors’ performances, often utilizing cutting edge stage technology. His work is often devised and developed in close collaboration with the ensemble or with other artists, composers, designers and stage tech companies.

Peder Bjurman has since 1991 collaborated with swedish performance companies and artists like Charlotte Engelkes, Bogdan Szyber and Carina Reich. His latest productions, such as Doktor Glas, with Krister Henriksson at the Vasa theatre Slapstick at Rival in Stockholm and Enter Numan at The House of Dance in Stockholm, were all much acclaimed by critics and audiences . Bjurman also provided the original idea for The Far Side of the Moon directed and performed by Robert Lepage, with music by Laurie Anderson. The play was also turned into a feature film, selected for the Academy Awards 2002.

He co-wrote The Andersen Project in 2005, commissioned by the Andersen Jubilee, opening in Copenhagen June 2005. The play still tours continually around the world. New collaboration with Robert Lepege in 2010-14, Cartes, a 12 hour long epic.

Sisyphus is his third collaboration with the actor Lars Bethke

Since the beginning in 1996, New Tango Orquesta have, on five albums and a countless number of international tours up to now, with the composer Per Störby as a leader, explored and developed the concept of ”nuevo tango”.

With their unique mix of baroque music, tango, free improvisation, minimalism and romantique, they have gained territory all over the world with their special sound. Their focused performances are a complete acoustic, dynamic, and musically masterpiece one should never miss.

Swedish New Tango Orquesta have released five albums: ”The New Tango Orquesta” 1998, ”Part II” 2000, the Swedish Grammy nominated ”Bestiario” 2005 and the recently released ”The Kiev Concert” and ”Vesper” 2009. They have made lots of music for movies and tv-series, ”The return of the dancing teacher” (Henning Mankell) and ”Sketches of Frank Gehry” (Sidney Pollack) among others. They have made music for several dance- and theatre plays. They have toured all over the world, done performances on rock venues in Moscow, tango venues in Buenos Aires, jazz clubs in Istanbul and concert halls in Beijing.

Missing Link was formed in 2007, by the writer and director Peder Bjurman and the director and performer Lars Bethke. The board of directors gather longstanding experience from international productions and touring within many different fields of performing arts, encompassing both larger productions and smaller pieces. The mission of Missing Link’s work is to explore text, movement and technical interventions for the contemporary stage, inventing new ways of using traditional sources, combining and intertwining diciplines and exploring ways of perfoming, appearantly untheatrical realms of the present.

Our vision is to continue to develop this method of creation, and to develop the art form itself by adding layers, subtracting redundant manners and keeping only the necessary features of what makes a performance vital and long lasting, always trusting the intelligence of the audiences. When leaving interpretation and emotional impact to them they are allowed to be the creators.