Zeno at 4am

Zeno at 4am is a shadow oratorio by William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company.

The original text

A precursor to the play Confessions of Zeno, it was created as a shadow oratorio which combines a range of media to depict Zeno during in the state between waking and sleeping and the dilemmas which swirl through his mind – about his wife and his mistress, whether his pleasures (smoking being one) will cause his death, his precarious business dealings and the death of his father whom he did not love enough when he was young.

Original Text

Confessions of Zeno, created in 2001 as a collaborative project between artist/director William Kentridge, the Handspring Puppet Company, composer Kevin Volans and writer Jane Taylor, combines puppets and humans to explore the worlds of work and of erotic pleasure that sustain the life of the modern European bourgeoisie in the years before the outbreak of World War I. The central character (Zeno) recalls the great moments of indecision and irresolution that have marked his life, and that have set in place his unresolved relationships with his father, and his wife and his mistress.