Never stand still

A sunny Sunday afternoon at the Grand Théâtre on Limpertsberg: outside, on the Glacis, the construction work for the mega stage for the upcoming change of throne is in full swing; in addition, several thousand people are demonstrating loudly from Kirchberg in favour of an end to the war in Gaza. Inside the theatre, meanwhile, things are quieter, apart from an impressive sound installation with all kinds of plant sounds in the foyer, which is intended to get you in the mood for Elisabeth Schilling's new play, Sensorial Symphonies. It raises the question of "what if we could feel the world like plants", as the announcement says.

The small auditorium of the large theatre is also filled to capacity on this afternoon – the premiere took place the evening before – and the audience includes Minister of Defence, Mobility and Gender Equality Yuriko Backes (DP), who we would not have expected to be in this place in these difficult times, but that speaks for her.

On the spartan stage, three tree sculptures, five dancers and a marimba player from the contemporary music ensemble United Instruments Of Lucilin. The latter also plays live, with Luxembourg musician Pascal Schumacher responsible for the musical concept, which is based on a deconstruction and reconstruction of Sergei Rachmaninov's well-known Piano Concerto No. 2, but incorporates the sounds of various plant species – quite fascinating.

Sensorial Symphonies by Elisabeth Schilling is a work about growth and decay using the example of the plant world, which aims to combine dancing, seeing, hearing and smelling into an overall experience, as the choreographer and dancer tells us, whom we meet for a comprehensive discussion a few days later.

But on this evening, the smell doesn't really want to reach us in the front row, which Schilling explains by saying that people react very differently to smell. "Some are hypersensitive, some smell nothing at all. I had to find a balance here."