etb English
Theatre
Berlin International Performing Arts Center

Blog Archive

Bypass Portal

Bypass Portal explores the complex interplay of human behavior, the sensation of being observed, censorship and disruptions across various settings.

While examining the nuances of existence within space and crafting strategies for survival, the performance scrutinizes the ongoing influence and potential threats posed by powerful political forces on our lives, regardless of our location. Simultaneously, it invites the possibility of envisioning alternative ways of being—whether alone, together, or somewhere in between.

In English, Farsi and Spanish

Play Bow

Play Bow utilizes a blend of street and contemporary dance, an original electronics and strings composition, voice and costumes informed by Jung’s theory of the animal self to build a moving metaphor of canine play behavior.

We draw parallels between human and canine social roles and explore how they are revealed in human relationships – especially during courting rituals. At times, the piece is set in an electronic music club, where we celebrate, search for a lover and express social dominance / submission.

Ken Christianson (composer) and Sami Giron (choreographer) have been collaborating since 2005, when they met at California Institute
of the Arts while earning their Master’s degrees.

With very little spoken language (English)

No Home

This is a mockumentary performance and a film. A diary and a fable.

Yael is an artist who has immigrated to Berlin. She’s broke, tired of babysitting, and afraid her big dreams won’t be fulfilled. She gets an opportunity for a week’s residency, but the night before it starts a sinister character appears in her nightmare, planting a seed of self-doubt that gets bigger and bigger, making her residency a living hell while she is losing grip on reality.

No Home encapsulates the perpetual sense of liminality experienced by an immigrant in a foreign land. With unwavering hope, she strives to create her haven within the enigmatic backdrop of Berlin. Her daily existence is a relentless battle against the challenges of communication, financial constraints, bureaucracy, and waning motivation.

In this piece, elements of humor, horror and homesickness have been blended to depict a new reality of an immigrant, grappling with the pursuit of her dreams.

In English, German and Hebrew

Best Funeral Ever (My Russian Funeral)

We die alone. We bury together.

This participatory performance that explores the political and theatrical nature of the funeral ritual and deconstructs its settled mechanism. It is a ritual for which it is impossible to be fully prepared, but during this rehearsal any last wish can be fulfilled.

The audience is invited to join the scripted burial ceremony, turn on their common memory of the ritual and bring in their differences of cultures and societies. To rehearse, to
deconstruct, to discuss they will have the conflicted Russian body of the performer whose last wish is to do no more harm and become peaceful compost.

In English

Please note that there are only a very limited number of seats available per performance. There are two separate performances on February 17,  at 5pm and at 8pm.

Natasha Borenko is a Siberian-born fluid theater maker and queer feminist migrant artist who sees participatory art as a tool to deconstruct the system and rehearse the change.

Four-Course Meal ~Hot Pot~

Chōri (調理, 조리, Kochen) is a collective of East Asian artists. Using culinary metaphors, Chōri Collective serves up a hot pot stage inspired by the Asian culinary culture where all dishes are placed together on one table, to get us through the long winter. Through the recipe, which is a living archive and a metaphor for score, three ingredients are simmering in the hot pot with the dreams of change. We welcome foodies and ingredients to our collective flavor journey.

In English, Korean and Japanese

Tender Horror

What do blizzards, hormonal changes and folklore have in common? How does ritual merge with our daily life?

Through surrealist ritual and the examination of the archetypal phases of the feminine, Tender Horror is brought to life.

Tender Horror is conceived of and developed by HOPEFULLY, MAYBE, an emerging international theater group consisting of Josje Eijkenboom, Maureen Gleason, Sigrun Hasselgård Bøe and special guest, Sunniva B. Johansen.

Presented as part of THE LAB, the artist and audience development series at ETB | IPAC, this first public presentation of new work-in-progress will be followed by a post-performance discussion.

Maureen Gleason is an actress and theater artist based in Berlin, Germany. She earned her BFA in studio acting with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN where she studied the classical canon, voice and Roy Hart. After moving to London to study Shakespeare at the Globe Theater, she completed her MFA in Embodied Dramaturgy with Rose Bruford College London. Maureen specializes in dramatic vocal techniques and also works with textiles. (maureenlgleason.com)

 

 

 

Sigrun Hasselgård Bøe is a performer, choreographer and artistic collaborator based in Drammen, Norway. In 2020 she completed her two year-training of Advanced Devising Practice at Arthaus Berlin. In addition, Bøe has a MFA with a specialization in Performing Arts (2018) and a BA in Theatre Education (2016) from The University of Agder, Norway. Bøe is trained in the arts of physical theater and movement, and has a special interest in choreographed theater. She is currently working with the performance SKREI which is to be seen as part of the European Capital of Culture in Bodø 2024. (sigrunhasselgaardboee.com)

 

 

Sunniva Birkeland Johansen is a performer and director from the Lofoten Islands in Norway. In 2020 she completed an MFA in Advanced Devising Practice in collaboration with Rose Bruford College and Arthaus Berlin. She is currently based in Oslo where she works both in the theater and film industry. Sunniva is a part of the duo Birk/Bo produksjoner who focus on creating accessible theater in rural areas of Norway. In 2024. she will be directing and performing SKREI as a part of the “European Capital of Culture” in Bodø as well as continuing her work for Birk/Bo produksjoner. (sunnivabjohansen.com)

 

 

 

Josje Eijkenboom works as an actor and theater maker. She completed her Master Devised Theater and Performance in Berlin in 2019 (London International School of Performing Arts/Arthaus Berlin) She currently specializes in Physical Theater (Embodied Theater and the Poetic Body and Puppetry) Her predilection for Greek tragedies is often reflected in her work. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in The Netherlands (ArtEZ), she traveled to Brazil with TAMTAM Objektentheater, performing at Oerol and various other festivals. Currently she is working on various projects with Duda Paiva Company where she also performs Vergeten, dieren en Ver- loren zaken and Kinderen van het verdwenen Woud. Besides performing she also teaches aerial yoga and pole dance classes. (josje-eijkenboom.nl)

 

 

The Story of the Panda Bears

Told by a Saxophonist Who Has a Girlfriend in  Frankfurt

A man wakes up next to a woman whose name he does not remember; nor does he remember where and how they met, their journey to his apartment or what they did after they got there. The woman is happy to explain, and her recollection of the facts makes him plead with her to stay. She promises to return. He promises to wait for her.

“Nine nights. Fine. But after that, you ask for nothing more.”

Bound by a promise and a bottle of wine, they discover that sometimes all you need to
 approach perfection are nine nights and a broken alarm clock.

With an international cast and crew – Romanian, Icelandic, German, Danish and Chilean – that connected over Visniec’s writing, the performance highlights the unifying force of theatre and its power to become a common language that exceeds any borders.

“Visniec writes charming, nonsugary dialogue, utilizing that rare element in highly romanticized storytelling: silence.”     Tim Lowery: Time Out Chicago

“This play is very dear to me because I try to talk about love, the mystery of love, reincarnation through love, and initiation… about many things that we don’t think about often enough.”    Matei Visniec

Matéi Visniec was born in Romania in 1956. From an early age, he discovered literature as a space dedicated to freedom. He draws his strengths from Kafka, Dostoevsky, Poe, Lautréamont. He loves the Surrealists, the Dadaists, absurd and grotesque theatre, surrealist poetry, fantastic literature, magical realism, and even the realist Anglo-Saxon theatre.
Visniec studied philosophy at Bucharest University and became an active member of the so-called Eighties Generation who left a clear stamp on Romanian literature. He believes in cultural resistance, and in literature’s capacity to demolish totalitarianism. Above all, Matéi Visniec believes that theatre and poetry can denounce manipulation through “great ideas”, as well as brainwashing through ideology.
Before 1987 Matéi Visniec had made a name for himself in Romania with his clear, lucid, bitter poetry. Starting with 1977, he wrote drama; the plays were much circulated in the literary milieus but were barred from staging. In September 1987, Visniec left Romania for France, where he was granted political asylum. He started writing in French and began working for Radio France Internationale.
At present, Visniec has had many of his works staged in France, and some of his plays written in French are published. His plays have been staged in more than 20 countries. In Romania, after the fall of Communism, Matéi Visniec has become one of the most frequently performed authors.
Originally written in French, The Story of the Panda Bears told by a Saxophonist who has a Girlfriend in Frankfurt has been translated into many languages (German, Icelandic, Arabic, Japanese etc) and has been performed all around the world.
Photo Matéi Visniec: Andra Badulesco / all other photos: Hani Hamza

Bestseller

A danced requiem for an unintentionally funny humor philosopher in German, Polish and English. Two performers explore the contradictions of life with the help of a Bach cantata, a curtain and a special performative subtlety.
The starting point of the play is the (inevitable) death of one’s father. A common past ceases to be shared and becomes entirely our responsibility. The two performers dance their way through spiritual questions. A particular sense of trust makes them ready to work with whatever comes their way.
Why is something funny and when? Is humor a survival technique? How simple or complicated can it be, can we be? Do God, the devil and sin exist or are they just bad jokes that we are expected to laugh at?

SURPRISING (taniecpolska.pl) WELL-BALANCED AND IRONIC (teatrologia.info) VINTAGE IN THE PERFORMING ARTS (culture.pl) BETWEEN SERIOUSNESS AND UN-SERIOUSNESS (e-teatr.pl)

Soldier M.I.A.

Soldier M.I.A. is a collaborative dance performance that attempts to re-imagine a Chinese queer feminist future, through the story of the female soldier, Hua Mulan (花木兰).

According to the classic legend, Mulan is a young woman who disguises herself as a man, in order to join the army and go to battle in her father’s place. On the surface, the story seems to advocate woman empowerment and emancipation; however at its root, it actually instrumentalizes female representation and bodies for patriarchal and nationalist purposes.

Framed as a fictive search-and-rescue mission, Soldier M.I.A. plays with the idea that Mulan has somehow gone missing in action (M.I.A.). Four “experts” with diverse Chinese backgrounds – a dancer, a dramaturg, a sound artist and a costume artist – join forces to find Mulan, using a mix of literary references, video footage of Chinese opera and personal stories. Together with the help of the audience, they will try to reconstruct the story of Mulan through a queer and feminist lens. Their task is to bring forth a new Mulan-in-action (M.I.A.). What battle will Soldier M.I.A. join in today? Whose flag will she be flying… or burning?

There will be a short post-show discussion after each performance.

On Saturday, November 25 at 4pm, Ming Poon will also hold an artist talk as part of his research project S.O.A.R. Queen (Study of a Rice Queen), which is supported by Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung. The talk will last approximately 90 minutes and admission is free of charge.

.