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Last Time We Spoke is an online extension of Theory of Flames, a film opera by Michel van der Aa, presented as part of the Opera Forward Festival at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam.

It takes the form of a collection of messages. Stories about connection, conversation, and what happens when people who care about each other begin to see the world differently.

This project invites you to step deeper into the themes surrounding the opera by reading the stories shared here and contributing your own.

Theory of Flames will premiere on March 6th 2026 and run for five performances as part of the Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam.

Last time we spoke...

Last time we spoke...

We said we would keep in touch and meet again. It's been three years already. I've tried to write several messages to you, but they never get sent. I hope one day I find the courage to reach out to you again.

Last time we spoke...

You were there when I almost died. I knew you would be. But, wow, you were really, really there. Trudging through the snow, sleeping in the chair next to my bed. Doing all the difficult painful scary things. You were really there.

Last time we spoke...

The last time we spoke

must have been forty years ago.

You told me that if we ever met again,

all would be well between us.

Tomorrow I will see you again,

after forty years.

And already,

my heart is glad.

Last time we spoke...

you were hurt. You told me that you would come visit me. You yold me that you missed me.

Last time we spoke was the first time I felt close to you, and the only time I felt understood. We finally accepted our differences. I started seeing you the way you did.

Next time I saw you was at your funeral. Now we talk in my dreams. Better late than never, you assured me that we had unconditional love. I wish we talked for longer, last time we spoke.

Last time we spoke...

I told you I'm always here.

Did you forget? Likely, but that's the beauty of it, for things that have been perceived to it's fullness can't bring any novelty.

Yet, remember that I'm always here, waiting for your word.

Call for me In The Mind and I rise from the omnidepth to answer.

Last time we spoke...

We didn’t. I never had anyone to speak to, never had anyone to regret losing..you’ve only ever been a figment of my imagination. Oh how lucky you all are to have loved and lost.

Last time we spoke...

I confessed everything I’d never thought to myself

Last time we spoke...

... I said I was doing great and I meant it. You said you were doing okay too. I think I finally see what you already did: we're better people without each other.

Last time we spoke...

...life was a different kind of the same mess.

Different people played different parts in different times.

A different life, lived in different ways, in different places at a different age.

Different goals led to different decisions and different actions. Trying to solve different problems with different methods, hoping to get a different outcome. And different attempts, in different moments, made for different experiences and different consequences.

Yet here we are, in a different kind of the same mess.

Last time we spoke...

The last time we've spoke, we talked about how the world would be a more loving and kind space for all kinds of people to live when people genuinely care about each other, listen to each other.

Last time we spoke...

I was still on my way to rock bottom.

And you seemed to be going upwards.

So I didn’t drag you along, I just let myself fall.

Last time we spoke...

You wished me happy birthday and still couldn’t bring myself up to say something more than thanks. Even though all I was thinking about was finally asking you if at any point you felt it too, or was I just crazy? now that things have settled the way they have…

And I realized I will probably always be “your dude”, but never quite talk about any of it.

I still hope one day we’ll have a chance to

Last time we spoke...

I wanted to hug and comfort you, but time and distance had created unbridgeable gap between us and I felt my vulnerability slipping into the abyss.

Last time we spoke...

I told you about my encounter with God.

How deeply beautiful that was, and continues to be.

I feel it as a quiet grace, gently present.

I hope that everyone, in their own way and time, may come to know Him.

Last time we spoke...

I was in the mountains, you were somewhere else. We talked on the phone. You thought they were there to deceive us. I believed it was for protection.

Last time we spoke...

Moderate left wasn't labeled as extreme right

Last time we spoke...

The distance was too far to overcome, I told you it, I should’ve told you before. Now you are already gone.

Last time we spoke...

My heart broke again. It made me wonder if endings could miraculously ignite beginnings.

Last time we spoke...

Her eyes went sad. She’s not hearing what I say.

They doze, dream, fade out. Her own thoughts she listens to.

I want our old life back.

marianne

Last time we spoke...

You forgot that you had told me this story already. The details changed, but the characters remain the same.

Did I forget you? Did you remember me?

Last time we spoke...

...it wasn’t about solving anything or reaching some clear conclusion. It was just two people taking the time to stay connected in a world that constantly pulls attention elsewhere, and I remember thinking afterward how rare and grounding that felt.

It reminded me that communication doesn’t always have to arrive in moments of crisis to matter, that sometimes it’s the ordinary check-ins, the shared pauses, the unremarkable updates that quietly keep us tethered to one another.

Last time we spoke...

Last time we spoke, it felt like an agreement. Unspoken but understood that we would keep showing up, keep asking, keep listening, even when life gets noisy or overwhelming, even when it feels easier to disappear for a while. And I think that’s how we stay safe, and sane, and human: not by having perfect conversations, but by refusing to let silence do all the talking for us.

Last time we spoke...

...there was a pause that felt heavier than the words we exchanged. We were careful, polite, and a little distant. Since then, I’ve replayed that conversation in my mind, wondering how silence can sometimes say as much as what is spoken.

Last time we spoke...

You told me you were worried about where the world was heading. I told you I was worried about us. We sat with that for a long time, and for once neither of us tried to fix it.

Last time we spoke...

You told me you were worried about where the world was heading. I told you I was worried about us. We sat with that for a long time, and for once neither of us tried to fix it.

Last time we spoke...

We spoke for three hours and changed nobody’s mind. But we ordered food and watched something stupid afterwards. It felt like remembering how to be together again. I guess we don’t have to agree about everything.

Last time we spoke...

It felt different. We used to interrupt each other because we were excited. Now we interrupt because we’re afraid of where the other person is going.

Last time we spoke...

You told me you trusted your instincts more than institutions.

Last time we spoke...

You said you felt like the world finally made sense to you. I didn’t have the heart to tell you that you’d stopped making less sense to me.

Last time we spoke...

I realised that it’s possible to love someone and feel completely lost when they explain how they see the world. Both of those things can be true at the same time.

Last time we spoke...

I realised I’ve started rehearsing conversations before they happen. I prepare answers for things that haven’t even been said yet. That can’t be a good sign.

Last time we spoke...

I started to realise how much identity is tied up in what we believe to be true. When those beliefs are questioned, it doesn’t just feel like information being challenged. It feels personal.

Last time we spoke...

I keep wondering if we’d get along if we met for the first time now.