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A Bee in the Heart of Her

If Nora Helmer, Henrik Ibsen’s famous female protagonist, could speak anything besides Henrik’s text, what would she say? How about Hedda Gabler, Mrs. Sørby or Ellida Wangel? Can characters express themselves beyond their playwright? In song, perhaps?

This is exactly where Sibyl Kempson’s alchemical new work A Bee in the Heart of Her comes in. Over the course of a weaving workshop for recovering Ibsen women led by Mrs. Sørby in a rundown community center, these trailblazing characters confront mistranslations, misunderstandings, mansplaining and everything else that Ibsen got wrong, in detail.

With Kempson’s lyrical text set to original music composed by Robert M. Johanson (Nature Theater of Oklahoma), A Bee in the Heart of Her lets these women tell their own stories and finally set the record straight.

Ultimate Russian Protest Guide

“We’re not giving you any interviews. What do you want, all our secrets? Goodbye!” — that’s how our journey into this topic began: with civil resistance and resilience under dictatorship (in this case Russia during its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine).

All the same, we don’t know all the secrets… or maybe we do, but we’re not sharing them. Or, maybe, we will — just not all of them.

Based on interviews with activists and defenders of human rights, the play offers a glimpse into grassroots resistance initiatives both within Russia and abroad, highlighting their actions, processes, relationships, conflicts — and, most importantly, how they live through it all. A light touch of magic and humor weaves through the narrative, as these two elements may be the only things keeping the protagonists alive and in their right minds.

The Philanthropist

Dirty Granny Tales return to ETB | IPAC with their latest production, The Philanthropist.

Influenced by the decay of our modern era, the ensemble creates an ironic, circus of horror setting where haunting melodies meet visual storytelling. In an ideal society, a monster disrupts the harmony until the eponymous philanthropist appears as a savior. But is he truly a hero? Moving beyond their role as narrators, the musicians are now the lead characters, utilizing live looping techniques to transform into one-person orchestras.

This multi-sensory experience merges 2D animation projections, puppet theater and physical dance into a dark, gothic fable. It is a world born from a romantic yet decaying music box, where every note raises a question and every shadow hides a truth.

THE CAST & CREW

• Stavros Mitropoulos: Vocals, Mandolin, Mandola, Cello, Percussion, Flute, Synthesizer. (Role: The Journalist)

• Christina Syriopoulou: Piano, Vocals, Synthesizer. (Role: The Journalist 2)

• Michalis Kasvikis: Percussion. (Role: The Citizen)

• George Smak: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Flute, Melodica, Synthesizer. (Role: The Citizen 2)

• Stavros Psyllakis: Dance, Puppetry. (Multi-roles)

• Dimitra Daskalou: Cantine Woman

Why I Want to Be White

What does a newly arrived Sikh delivery driver in Berlin have to do with the rising level of the ocean? Where do avocadoes and billionaires and yoga meet, and what do they eat for lunch?

Why I Want to Be White is the opposite of a TED talk. It is a factually sort-of-accurate history of how “whiteness” – the world’s most successful group project – continues to manage the algorithm of supremacy and send us down mental health spirals.

This searing, funny and personal performance travels geographies and centuries, returning again and again to the disturbing “brilliance” of the masterplan of whiteness and the cost of believing in it.

Deepika Arwind is a writer and performer based between Berlin and Bangalore.
Her work looks at etching a psychological and emotional map of gender and politics in the current (already moving) moment. Her theater has been performed in various countries including the UAE, USA, UK and Singapore, and of course, across India and Germany. Her most recent works include The International Conference of Insecurity (2022, 2023) Phantasmagoria (UK, Kali Theatre 2023), I Speak to Sita (Forecast Forum, 2025), This Thing is about Everything (Stuttgart, 2023, 2024, Munich 2025). Phantasmagoria will have its Swiss premiere in Bern in August 2027.
She is the recipient of various fellowships and residencies including most recently Weltoffenes Berlin. In 2026, she will be one of six mentors from around the world at the ITI Academy for Theater Der Welt, Chemnitz. She is also the author of the children’s book Sarayu.
Her debut novel is called Good Arguments (Simon & Schuster India 2026) and draws from her 15 years of experience in theater.

Sophia Stepf is a theater maker, curator, dramaturg and the artistic director of Flinn Works (Berlin). She has been devising and co-creating research-based performances for the last two decades, focusing on feminist and postcolonial issues. Her shows have toured internationally and won various awards in Delhi, Zürich, and Berlin, most recently the Tabori-Award by Fonds Darstellende Künste (Germany) and the prize of the International Theater Institute (Germany). As a dramaturg /curator she has worked with Theater der Welt, Vienna Festwochen, Linz 09, Schnawwl Mannheim and Theaterfestival Schwindelfrei Mannheim, amongst others. Sophia has been designing experiential learning spaces for dramaturgy, devising theatre, theatre pedagogy, and transcultural competencies for 16 years, e.g., for Goethe-Institutes in India. She holds an MA in Dramaturgy and has trained in Betzafta (democracy training), DasArts Feedback Method, Anti-Bias, diversity training methods, new work and feminist leadership. She lives in Berlin with her family.

Falla

FALLA
Variation of phalla, for what is phallic, as a feminine inclination of the phallo, the phallus.
Falla, in Spanish, like a failure, fault, the original fault or the something missing, but also like an opening, a crack, a fissure.
Falla, in Catalan, from the latin facula, ”torch”. As an incendiary matter, something to be set on fire…

Throughout history, female gender identity has often been narrowly defined by the lack of the phallus. Julia B. Laperrière addresses this problematic idea from a queer feminist perspective using the strap-on dildo as transformative tool: how does it feel to have/wear a penis? How does it affect the way one moves? What power does it confer on the one who bears it? In collaboration with musician Pia Achternkamp, FALLA offers an invitation to playfulness, an incursion in the in-between that puts forth a vision of female sexuality that is alternative, liberated and unashamed.

Julia B. Laperrière (all pronouns) is a French-Canadian choreographer and performer based in Berlin. Working from a queer feminist perspective, she is interested in a dance that is generous, lately looking at dangerous dances and possibilities for new intimacies. Julia’s latest works (Falla, Falla VR, Swivel Open and Dangereuses) are currently touring in Germany, France, Canada and Norway. She has also taught in various places, including the CCN d’Orléans, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Radialsystem and the University of Osnabrück. Since 2023, Julia is a board member of ZTB e.V., where her volunteer work focuses on issues such as the precarity of artistic work, political representation, reform of the subsidy system, accessibility, mediation and similar topics.

Pia Achternkamp (aka “loh”) is a composer working at the crossroads of music, performing arts, language and fine arts. Curious about the interdependencies in sound, space, movement and dialogue, Pia usually performs her music live on stage when working in the context of performing arts. She has presented her work in HAU Berlin, Maxim Gorki Theatre and ACUD with Asaf Hameiri and at Volksbühne Berlin with the Future Witchcraft Project. With her solo project loh, Pia is exploring the power of endless repetition and minimal variations. Pia is part of a few bands: CHRUCH | grau& | Mildred | Pomel

Growler’s Grotto

Join Growler, the 82-year-old drum banging, shamanic vulva from the Liberties in Dublin in her Grotto, where no one gets left behind and no stone is left unturned as she takes you on a theatrical alchemical journey.

Growler is a sacred clown, walking the knife-edge of heartache and laughter. Using spoken word, song, storytelling and comedy, she confronts taboo topics, including grief and SA.

Her mission in these times is to help us love the ejjit out of ourselves. With a trolly in one hand and a staff in the other, she blazes a path. Her soul is a flame where everyone can warm the cockles of their heart.

Featuring special musical guest Lunatraktors!

“The beauty of Growler is in its roughness, its erratic meandering, its refusal to be one thing or another. It has a sacred chaos of its own, in which Mulrooney thrives.”

The List

Darragh McLoughlin

World-renowned Irish performer and circus artist Darragh McLoughlin presents a double bill! With Stickman and The Fulfillment, he turns all expectations of circus and storytelling on their head and paints a portrait of the shared moment in the theater space.

Stickman

Stickman is a performance which features a man, a stick and a TV.

The man balances the stick on various parts of his body, thereby setting himself and the stick in motion.

If the man has an agenda, he keeps it to himself.

The stick gets moved around and balanced by the man seeming to not have much to say.

The TV lurks in the background and throughout the performance puts titles on whatever the man and the stick are doing; thus attempting to dictate what the audience see.

All the while the audience watches and tries to keep up with the ever changing rules of play.

Then the TV titles them. ‘WATCHERS’.

Stickman is an exploration of our relationships with meaning, empathy and agency.

“The phantasmagoric movements created by each meticulously calculated move and the deep exploration of each stick elicited occasional voices of pure “wow” and “wow” from the audience. It was leaking.” Mayu Yoshihira (Daily Journal Editorial Department)

“I watched the whole thing unfold with excitement. That’s the only rule of the space magic called theater.” Sae Shimaizawa (Daily Journal Editorial Department)

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The Fulfillment

To fulfill: (verb)

1. achieve or realize (something desired, promised, or predicted).

2. carry out (a duty or role) as required, promised, or expected.

The Fulfillment is a modular, audience-driven performance built around a simple mechanic: an empty frame and a title. What happens next is determined by those present, and gradually as the fulfilled frames accumulate, an unpredictable live exhibition emerges, shaped entirely by those present.

Each performance becomes a portrait of our collective moment.

Darragh McLoughlin was born in 1987 in Ireland as youngest of three siblings and son of two professional chefs. In 2006 he moved to Berlin to attend the Jonglier Katakomben School of Juggling. In 2008, he attended the Academy for Circus and Performance Art and completed his education with a bachelor degree in Circus Arts. In 2014, he was selected as a Circus Next laureate with Fragments of a Mind and has since created several acclaimed works: The Whistle, Stickman and For as Long as We’re Here. Besides his performance work he has created conceptual artwork series: The Fulfillment, Stories of Falling Objects, Variations of Stickman and WATCHERS.

Darragh teaches at different professional institutions around Europe: FLIC Scuola di Circo, ACAPA, Die Etage, CODARTS and Les Beaux Arts, HMDK Stuttgart.

Underneath

Sticks and stones didn’t break Her bones, but words and pointing crushed Her.
Is Beauty really only skin deep?

Does Ugliness hide somewhere deeper?

This stunning play is a blackly comic, rich and vivid tale of a life lived in secret, a testament to the people who live on the fringes, under the nose of everyday life. It explores the surface, and what lies underneath.

Following performances both Silent and King as part of our Irish Theatre Berlin festival, ETB | IPAC is very pleased to welcome Pat Kinevan and Jim Culleton back with Underneath.

WINNER Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre Award, Adelaide Fringe Festival 2015
WINNER Scotsman Fringe First, Edinburgh Festival 2015
WINNER Stage Raw Best Solo Performer Award, Los Angeles
FORBES’ BEST THEATER ON BROADWAY AND BEYOND LIST

“Like Olivier’s legendary Hamlet, this is one of those rare performances that will be talked about for decades to come… exciting, hilarious, harrowing and heart breaking… A devastatingly brilliant piece of theatre.”
★★★★★ Examiner.com

The performance on Saturday, January 10 is sold out – we will be starting a waiting list from 7:30pm and will do our best to get everyone in.

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Bad News

THE LAB: Artist and Audience Development

Bathe in wine, bathe in milk,
Bathe in horse broth, bathe in silk.
Ice, steam, sauna, spring—
Let your body sizzle and sting.

If you’re a bird: you use dust!
If a snail: a puddle’s a must.
Come one, come all, we must get clean.
Elly the Batheness of Berlin
Invites you to her bathing dream.

Bathing is glorious: water grants daily rebirth, soap frees us from what want to leave behind. Elly the Batheness of Berlin is enamored with it—in tubs, hammams, mountain springs or saunas; with a sponge, a brush, hands or a stone.

All bathers are welcome to this work-in-progress lecture-performance exploring:
What is a bath? What is bathing? A historical, a cultural, a social, an artistic and an American bath; and even bathing across species!

Bathing has deep waters—with topics like PURITY, FERTILITY, (RE)BIRTH, HYGIENE, OLFACTION, MODESTY and the FEMALE DOMAIN. Elly the Batheness of Berlin is going deep into bathing lore and invites you to join.

In 2026, bad ideas are great again!

Followed by a post-performance discussion

Puddles

What language does love speak? Does speaking multiple languages give us multiple personalities? What goes beyond language and right into our bodies?

Set in Berlin between the 1990s and now, Puddles is about a love triangle between three university friends, Judith, Max and Nora. Max and Judith were childhood sweethearts but broke up when Judith went traveling. Max and Nora got together, stayed together, married, bought a flat and are trying for a baby. These best-laid plans, however, as well all know, often go awry…

In this version, Max only speaks German, Judith only English and Nora switches between the two.

The LAB reading will be the very first work-in-progress presentation of the new multilingual version of the play, followed by a post-performance discussion.

Trigger warning: the play addresses sensitive topics, including discussion of miscarriage.