Three young theatre companies, three projects, one evening!
After the Ruhrtriennale programme focussed on creation myths, stories of the underworld and descents into hell in 2015 and crises and the world at a crossroads in 2016, in 2017 the festival will turn its attention to the future.   It will tell stories of the future, change and the search for inspiration and utopias. What are our feelings regarding the world of tomorrow? Where is progress taking us? Does paradise finally await us and what will follow the apocalypse? These visions and versions of “new worlds” also provide the theme of the Campustriennale Masterclass.
Three young theatre companies are called upon to investigate these topics in their own work. Campustriennale enables young artists to realise their own creative visions as part of the festival. Three companies will develop world premieres within three weeks as part of masterclass with the constructive support of internationally respected artists and dramaturgs who will accompany the rehearsals. The projects are ultimately presented together in one long evening of theatre. A trip to “new worlds” with the theatrical generation of tomorrow.  

Christopher Columbus’s encounter with the American continent as the New World simultaneously marked the creation of the still used concept of Old Europe. The performance ‘America’ delves deep down into the history of American entertainment, using late night shows, Evangelical preachers, wrestling and vlogs to tell of European and American high and pop culture. What strategies do these follow? And how great is their potential for social subversion, including in the class struggle?  What is pop, politics or populism – and when?

The young theatre collective of Thomas Bartling, Jan Gehmlich and Dominik Meder got to know each other while studying Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen. They promise: “We will process country songs, Trump’s Twitter feed and stand-up routines through our personal and artistic filters and from them develop a different, alternative view of the USA.” This will not be an elitist bashing of so-called “white trash” but an assimilation of American entertainment as a means of entering a new world.

Every form of comedy aims to help the world progress through laughter because laughter is the answer to our tragic reality. But female comedy is in crisis. The various genres of comedy each remain firmly in male hands. Men comment on world political events while the few female comedians tend to confine themselves to more specifically feminine topics. Clearly there are different approaches to comedy that are dependent on gender – above all in terms of participation.

Comedy is a political matter. The production ‘Roar’ calls out for a new form of fun and feminism. The comedy genre is not only the bastion we seek to conquer here. It is also the most engaging weapon.  Previous works by the young dramaturg Pia Richter (an alumna of the Campustriennale College), the actor Thea Rinderli and the director Liliane Koch operated between theatre and public actions, between politics and art. The theatremakers promise:  “We will conjure up a ‘comic turn’.”

In the near future, in some 60 to 80 years’ time, genetic therapy will cure diseases and protect the human body from deformation. Humanity will be older and humanity will be better. However, the dividing line between “saving lives” and “improving humanity” is a fine one. Biotechnology and robotics have the potential to drive us towards an ideal of perfection. They are the next step in human evolution. This raises questions: how unique are you if are able to select your own body features? Is our near future a post-human one?

The production ‘Metamorphosis’ by the French collective Full Frontal Theatre positions itself on this threshold. After practical and theoretical courses in theatre at a range of Parisian universities, director Jérémy Ridel, stage designer Cerise Guyon and the three actors Simon Rembado, Chloé Lavalette and Antoine Prud’homme have already worked together in various combinations. ‘Metamorphosis’ is the first time they have all worked together for the stage. In a stylized series of sequences a patchwork of fantasies unfolds of a trans-human future.