HAPPY ENDING »The Case of Man«
With HAPPY ENDING we conclude our series ›The Case of Man‹ and for this production we cooperate for the first time with the course of studies ›Visual Theatre and Puppetry‹ of the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. The trilogy deals with the species human and its downfall. The three pieces SHOW DOWN, CLIMAX and HAPPY ENDING deal with three major themes in the history of humankind. Themes of human history: evolution, the anthropocene and post-extinction.
In trying to understand humans, they illuminate our species and caricature our existence. The Anthropocene, a supposedly short period in the earth’s existence, is understood as failure. With an ensemble of dancers, musicians and students from the course of studies ›Visual Theatre and Puppetry‹, HAPPY ENDING brings together the remnants of this age.
Not without self-mockery, the remnants of humanity and its decay are presented in a museum-like manner. Using the human body as material, they create a vision of the future and at the same time a memory.
Contributors
Team backsteinhaus produktion: Ottavio Ferrante, Kevin Franc, Isabelle Gatterburg, Heiko Giering, Timo Kleinemeier, Nicki Liszta, Nina Malotta, Güldeste Mamac, Moritz Martin, Rebecca Moltenbrey, Tobias Tönjes, Anniek Vetter
Team of HMDK: Elena Sofie Böhler, Lara Epp, Eva-Maria Hasler, Thomas Kraft, Julika Mayer, Lotte Pazelt, Natasja Raböse, Stephanie Rinke, Emilien Truche
and the team of Wilhelma Theater.
Press
»Director Nicki Liszta, artistic director of the dance company ‘Backsteinhaus Produktion’, which is based at the Theater Rampe, stages ‘After the downfall of humanity’ in about an hour full of rich impressions. … The young stage actors master the contradictory and absurd play with strongly expressed collective presence in performance, dance and music – sometimes withdrawn and seemingly lifeless, sometimes with overflowing life energy. White plastic hair wigs, bones, packaging materials, a spontaneously created doll that is embraced – the materials also support the apocalyptic stage action and stimulate the imagination of the audience. … In addition to directing and actors, the successful implementation on stage – especially without concrete plot or identifiable characters – is also due to the dazzling-spherical music (Heiko Giering) as well as the set design (Moritz Martin) and costumes (Rebecca Moltenbrey).«
Uta Reichard, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, 2./3. April 2022
»However extinguished the beings of this post-traumatic ghost hour may appear, with their fading and glowing energy reserves they are often immensely touching. In particular, the duets of two dancers, whose hand gestures mutate into a fight, and the industrial-sounding musical landscape with hesitant dance interludes, played live on the harmonium by Güldeste Mamac, enchant you with their desperate poetry. … And when two figures suddenly form a Pietà – this Madonna with the large child on the padded mother’s breast carries, at the same time, the indestructible hope for a compassionate world on her lap.«
Julia Lutzeyer, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 2. April 2022
Partner
A co-production of backsteinhaus produktion, Wilhelma Theater and the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, sponsored by the City of Stuttgart and the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg. With the kind support of Theater Rampe.
