A three-part performance series
A co-production of fringe ensemble and phoenix5
Texts by Ivo Briedis, Kaśka Bryla, Ceren Ercan, Lothar Kittstein, Anthony Kibsa Ouédraogo
Director Frank Heuel
Stage, Costumes, Video Annika Ley
Assistant Director Lutz Ackermann
Director’s Internship Emma Merle Regina Graßhoff
Production Management Jennifer Merten
Production Management Svenja Pauka
Public Relations Claudia Grönemeyer
Episode 1/3
Musik Ozan Tekin
Mit Nicole Kersten, Andreas Meidinger, Oleg Zhukow und Susanne Gelf, Roman Höffken, Mei Huang, Raphael MacLaren-Thompson, Luis Padberg, Cihan Simsek
Episode 2/3
Music, Sounds Andreas Meidinger
With Nicole Kersten, Bettina Marugg, Andreas Meidinger, Harald Redmer and Isabella Di Lao, Emma Merle Regina Graßhoff, Mei Huang, Raphael MacLaren-Thompson
Episode 3/3
Music, Sounds Andreas Meidinger
With Bettina Marugg, Nicole Kersten, Andreas Meidinger, Philip Schlomm and Susanne Gelf, Emma Merle Regina Graßhoff, Raphael MacLaren-Thompson, Andreas Mues
Performances
at Theater im Ballsaal, Bonn
Episode 1/3
Fri 31 Mar and Sat 01 Apr 2023, 8pm
Episode 2/3
Fri 28. and Sat April 29, 2023, 8 pm
Episode 3/3
Fr May 19 and Sat May 20, 2023, 8 pm
Tickets at BonnTicket
From one moment to the next, nothing is the same anymore. Logic is suspended. Values that were just relevant are considered absurd. One’s own perception seems distorted and even the meaning of words is no longer reliable. This is how a brief description of one of the world’s most famous stories from 1865 could sound: “Alice in Wonderland”. Amazingly, however, it could also refer to the present.
The fringe ensemble has now asked five authors from five countries to use Lewis Caroll’s story as a foil and inspiration and to write short texts with a view to the reality surrounding them. In this three-part performance series, you are invited to drop like Alice down the rabbit hole – headfirst into a perhaps irritating, perhaps grotesque, perhaps playful contemplation of a world turned upside down. As always, with a series, it’s crucial not to miss an episode!
Episode 1/3 With a courageous leap we go downwards – to where not only the laws of space and time are turned upside down, but we find ourselves in a realm of – one could say – alternative logic. Previously valid reliabilities are subject to a sometimes charming, playful, or cruel arbitrariness – until, in the end, we ask ourselves, in the words of the Hatter, “Have I lost my mind?” And we might be reassured by Alice’s words: “I’m afraid so. You’re out of your mind. But I’ll tell you something: that’s what makes the best.”
Episode 2/3 Arrived in Alice’s world 2023 we ask ourselves: How do we deal with a world between madness and nightmare? Should we taste every cake right away, nibble on mushrooms, drink from vials, bravely face even the most absurd discourse, simply reweigh the meaning of words? Do we need a clear head, a resolute demeanor, a new vision, imagination, more imagination, convincing arguments, or thinking beyond logic? Moving on.
Episode 3/3 “Who are you?” the caterpillar asks Alice, and she answers, “Me – I’m not sure, at least not at the moment – at least I know who I was this morning…” – After the first episode was dominated by the white rabbit and the second by the Cheshire Cat, the caterpillar now invites us to Wonderland, an animal of fantastic metamorphoses.
Even if it is a pity for you, if you should have missed one or even two parts of our series, it doesn’t matter, because also the third episode starts again from zero, so to speak – or in the morning…
*Quotation from the Hatter in Alice in Wonderland as adapted by Tim Burton: “I’ve been thinking about things that begin with the letter M: Bitch, Mutiny, Misdeed, Murder.”
Sponsored by: Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal City of Bonn, City of Münster.
Photos: Tanja Evers
M…M…M… 2/3_Photos: Claudia Grönemeyer