WEST OFF

THEATERNETZWERK RHEINLAND

19.01. – 22.01.2022

Young North Rhine-Westphalian theatre-makers take up the battle with the ghosts of the past, to finally be able to look forward. The west off production platform along the Rhine bids farewell with the Freischwimmer network, showing exciting works by a new performance generation during a chock-full festival week.

In “Happy Ever After, und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind…”, Carolin Charlotte Pfänder acts amid the Brothers Grimm, TikTok, and #MeToo. She devises a scenic tableau that scrutinises sexualised violence against women in fairy tales and horror movies. Gabriel Carneiro, from the Brazilian mining region of Minas Gerais, has taken a look at the Ruhr Area and draws connections between those sites in “Niemandes Boden – O chão de ninguém”. He exposes layers in his performative installation, adding new ones together with the audience. “Die letzte Messe – Ein Gottesdienst für die schließende Kirche” is held by Christian Minwegen, celebrating a performative farewell rite, a collective letting-go between pain and joy. Saskia Rudat and her (i)dentity team tackled a very unpleasant feeling we are all familiar with. But in “SHAME you WHAT?!”, blushing may also be a source of fun. Things are done, collected, piled up and listed: Performance collective äöü stands up to the challenge of naming all, really ALL the things in “These are a few of my favourite things”.