“Who have I welcomed, who have I lost, who have I said goodbye to?”
Seven people sit in a circle in front of a double screen. A film begins, with two people facing each other. They start talking about the deaths and births that have transformed their lives. Words are listened to, faces are looked at. In turns, they tell the stories of their experiences with the beginning and the end of life, in a unique, intimate way, and the audience can read the emotions displayed by each of the narrators. Thanks to this extremely intense and immersive device, Mats Staub proposes to explore individual memory in search for powerful universal experiences. The invisible companion to the exchange happening on stage, the Swiss artist creates a space where words are freeing and memories keep coming back up, a safe place to approach the two key moments of human existence: birth and death. Aiming for understanding, comfort, sharing, and undoubtedly many new beginnings...
Distribution
Conception and direction Mats Staub
Stage design Monika Schori
Shooting Benno Seidel
Dramaturgy Simone von Büren, Elisabeth Schack
Production
Production zwischen_produktionen
Co-production Kaserne Basel, Sick! Festival (Manchester), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt), Festival Theaterformen (Hannover), Festival der Regionen (Perg), Spielart Festival (Munich), Centre culturel suisse (Paris), Migros-Kulturprozent
With the support of Fachausschuss Tanz und Theater BS/BL, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Fondation Christoph Merian, Fondation Ernst Göhner