Relative Sonics at Etcetera Theatre

Relative Sonics is an experimental new work that reimagines Thomas Edison’s invention of the world’s first phonograph. Through the echoed relationships of two playful, restless teenagers and the older, resilient love between Edison and his wife, the play unfolds a landscape shaped by memory and presence, love and loss, and the fragile boundary between technology and humanity. In the intricate web of past and present, we are confronted with the cost of chasing permanence in a fleeting world. Relative Sonics also traces the quiet, often unseen labour of those who hold space for visionaries, those who wait, witness, and carry the weight of dreaming while others chase the unreachable.

Happenings Stage, a London-based theatre collective, debuts this original production by playwright and director Mingming Liu. Dedicated to creating bold new work that taps into the spirit of the now, Happenings brings the remembered and the imagined to life through the lasting power of a well-told story, one that lingers long after the lights go down.