Justin F Kennedy: Apocalypso

Apocalypso is choreography and speculative opera, exploring apocalypse through an Afro-pessimist lens. At its heart lies the ocean – as body, archive, and a space of both memory and becoming. Drawing from Tidalectics, a concept coined by Barbadian poet and historian Kamau Brathwaite, the performance weaves together contemporary Caribbean mythology with intersectional and ecocritical perspectives.

The title – a blend of “Apocalypse” (Greek: “to uncover hidden places”) and “Calypso” (an Afro-Caribbean musical tradition that addresses pressing political realities in a disarmingly casual tone) signals a work that reveals social grievances while at the same time seducing its audience. Set after the fictional Apocalypso of Internal Combustion, where hyper-individualist humans have collapsed in on themselves, and hybrid beings like mermaids, zombies, and animatrons rise to the surface.

These figures embody queer Black futures, Black femmedom, fluidity, and collective resistance. They raise questions of care, embodiment, labor, and survival beyond neoliberal notions of inclusion. Apocalypso critiques hollow ideals of togetherness, often staged in European performance spaces.