Even If Mercury Goes Retrograde: A One-Person Circus Performance

Performance by: Mahir Akgündoğdu

I don’t know exactly what will happen,
I wait, I wonder.
I have a roadmap,
But that’s all.
I have a roadmap…
Anyway,
I choose this.
I don’t know what will happen on the way,
I choose this too.
As for me,
Everything else,
From scratch, once again,
I choose according to my mood.
I believe in the skill of falling just as much as the ability to rise.
(…)
Wait, there’s more.

Without relying on the existence of excuses,
I just want us to keep laughing, even when Mercury goes retrograde…

If Mercury Doesn’t Go Retrograde is a circus parody in both name and content.

This performance is a Bozcaada-adapted version of Mahir Akgündoğdu’s “If Mercury Doesn’t Go Retrograde”. It presents an ironic take on both traditional and fictional circus forms, blending them with performances.

The title of the show sarcastically sets the foundation for the performance. It points to a continuity of conventional thought patterns, reappearing in modern disguises, shaping and conditioning us in ways we may not even notice. Phrases like “God willing,” “without mishap,” and “with good fortune” have become small stumbling blocks in our journey through life, never truly going out of fashion—just finding new ways to blend into contemporary habits. “If Mercury Doesn’t Go Retrograde…”

In this Bozcaada adaptation, the emphasis in the title and the performance itself serves as the performer’s driving force, conveying a “whatever happens, happens” attitude. And the ultimate goal? To laugh together.

October 8, 2024