Cold War 2.0

Anna Sokolova

Sep 13

2 min read

Presented by Doppelgangster, an international performance collective creating work that responds to urgent global crises.

To note: it is extremely interesting to self-educate yourself on what the term Cold War 2.0 is.

@doppelgangsterdoppelgangster

Sydney Fringe 2026 @The Rocks

9-20 September 2026

The review

With two performers creating it, as it seems, on the go, it is loud, phantasmic, unleashed, nearly intimidating, smart, complex, squishing, initiating, ignoring barriers and norms, slightly frightening (balanced with the enormous trust the audience gives to theatre makers!), a mix of continuous, smartly clustered dialogs and thundering anarchic karaoke. All are invited; lyrics are projected on a wall, and the dance floor is open for everyone to rave on.

It is provocative, angry, engulfing, excellently daring and reckless theatre. No care is given if the audience is catching up; but for those who are, a spicy ride is guaranteed, with heart pumping, thoughts rushing overwhelmingly, stimulation high, and a lot left to comprehend afterward.

Narrow space with hand-painted banners around it, two microphones, and audience arranged into a couple of rows along each of the long edges with some empty chairs left for playing. The very appearance of performers, tone, voices, and expressiveness creates a somewhat drugged space with everyone deeply involved. Spiderweb-looking makeup on Tobias’s head, tattoos, matching suits à la “Men in black” paired with sunnies, later replaced, while still playing by oversized shirts with a bunch of slogans, where politics mixed with art and art mixed with philosophy, like “life isn't nearly as sacred as the appreciation of passion”.

Conspiracy, drugs, corporations, big politics, spies, total control, aggression, and an invitation to mad fun. No, no feelings there but a sarcastic reincarnation of “Господи! Помоги мне выжить среди этой смертной любви” (Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben) with a big kiss reenacting the famous graffiti, concluding the show.

All are in as one, very close, mixed into this wild show, willingly accepting the push into the outskirts of what is appropriate and society’s accepted, well-mannered, comfortable. Not in a union, no, but into living through a broken, stuffed reality on the edge of death. Playing by this borderline is what these guys do best. Beyond regret, beyond depression, only paying the price for being smart, educated, watchful, brave, and well pretending to be touch insane, @doppelgangsterdoppelgangster excel in shock value, decorating a mountain of facts with cold logical conclusions, drugged allusions and soberly connected dots spread through years and years. Time that humankind is nicely spending on mastering its own loud self-destruction.