Review: One Millions Words, The October Gallery

The October Gallery is an impressive gallery, café, theatre venue in Bloomsbury, which draws a quieter crowd to the area, where the theatre is positioned three flights up and (as far as I am aware) without a lift. Level seating helps create an intimate and almost perfect space for this wordy, considered show. 

An introduction to One Million Words, given by psychoanalyst Daniela Oliveira Grund, sets the scene of Rainer Maria Rilke’s relationship with psychoanalysis and the year he spent expressing himself solely through letters, questioning not just creativity but also the source of it and the reasons behind it.

Until recently, I was unfamiliar with Rilke’s work, before realising that it found its way into theatre, films, books, and media through words and philosophy that tap into universal truths. Ivo Muller’s play explores finding the authentic self, set in the years in which the poet was unable to write. The Brazilian actor explains that he found a parallel with Rilke, rediscovering his own identity as an immigrant living and working in America. Rilke’s work and ideas resonate with their exploration of the human soul and the purpose of creativity itself:  “A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity.” The creativity struggle is nothing new to poets, artists and writers throughout history. The burden is to be embraced, suggests Rilke. ‘Difficult’ is a good thing, presenting challenge and a means for human existence to make anything worthwhile.’ 

One Million Words is not a narrative led play and nor does it attempt to be. It picks up where Rilke left off, learning about our own urgency to express ourselves without validation. It seeks quiet, solitude and a meditative state to truly find our most humble and accepting selves. An empty desk and chair represent the poet’s absence, with letters strewn across the floor, as Muller enters the playing space and addresses the audience directly. His inspiration derives from Letters to a Young Poet, a publication from Rilke’s period of mentorship, discovering what it means to be a poet, more than the act of writing poetry itself. The expectation is that Rilke’s poetry will be shared, but Muller’s engagement instead follows Rilke’s need to question what brings us to write or create in any capacity. 

Several themes around love and loss, and childhood perspectives into our world help propel the purpose the letters foster. Here, Muller delivers an assured performance, which few one person shows achieve as easily. There is little that is performative, as is to be expected, and his tonal shaping of expansive prose is handled skillfully. His warm, engaging performance connects directly with the audience, though its understated style and philosophical focus may not appeal to everyone. Additionally, the lighting (Cesar Baptista, Jacob Hollens) and soundscape (João John Zalewski)

reflect the simplicity and focus desired in stripping down artifice to engage more fully with Rilke’s thoughts and ultimately our own. 

This is a thoughtful and absorbing evening that separates the artist from the celebrity brashness of our current world. It is a refreshing, breathing piece of work that is a rare and brave move among a society increasingly disconnected and operating with frenetic energy. Clearly there is more scope for this sixty-minute show to encompass visually and verbally the pressures of modern life, raging wars, the threat of AI and ugly distractions that deny us the quiet and solitude that Rilke and Muller so passionately advocate. Go with an open mind and leave with it more opened. 

Written and produced by Ivo Müller
Directed by Arieta Correa
Assistant Director: Mariana Goulart
Lighting by Cesar Baptista and Jacob Hollens
Lighting operator: Vania Jaconis
Costume design by Sophia April Grose
Sound design by João John Zalewski
Graphic design by Leonardo Junqueira
Associate producers: Domingas Person, Lee Boek and Darrell Larson
Production company: Blau Productions

One Million Words has now completed its run at the October Gallery. It goes on to play at the Pleasance Dome as part of the Edinburgh Fringe from Wednesday 5 to Monday 31 August.