J a n P h i l i p p S t a n g e
by Jakob Engel and Jan Philipp Stange
Much rhymes with 'animal', nothing rhymes with 'human'. Kafka's canonical narrative "A Report to an Academy" (1920), which is the last nail in the coffin of mankind as the crowning achievement of creation, is brought to the stage with a hyper-realistic animal in the theatre performance "Hard Feelings". In the narrative, Kafka's ape turns out to be a human who skilfully manipulates his own fiction. But an ape who has successfully become a human being does not simply become free, but ends up in a network of attributions and constructions that define and limit it. As human beings, we live in nation states and in dysfunctional families, and work on our biographies – questionable fictions that cannot be easily cast off. How do we escape it? And what can we hope for?
Using modern 3D tracking technology, a pianist and a gorilla bring Kafka's story back to life 100 years after its publication.
Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mühlheim a.d. Ruhr | 23. October 2020
studioNAXOS, Frankfurt a.M. | 15. - 18. October 2019
© Jakob Engel
And isn't it the most wonderful moment when a theater play is over and you can go home? In an unclear way, into the darkest night, when the stars shine brightly and the aching head, this shocking failure of divine rank, slowly subsides from the day - we say goodbye to this night. Of everything and everyone, of sense and reason, of lies and truth, day and night.
studioNAXOS, Frankfurt am Main | 20. - 22. November 2020
studioNAXOS, Frankfurt am Main | 01. - 03. November 2019
© Jakob Engel
Craggy rocks, a mammoth, wisps of fog: the opulent stage design takes the audience to the cave in the Neandertal where, in 1865, the skeleton of an early human was found. Great Depressions links the actor Malte Scholz's individual story of depression with the story of the discovery of the Neanderthal, who, contrary to what has long been assumed, was not an aggressive loner, but lived in a caring community based on solidarity. Scholz expresses his thoughts on achievement-oriented society, depression and masculinity. He is looking for the feeling behind the controlled facade. He wonders how it came about that he is still alive and able to share this evening with the audience. The musician Jacob Bussmann in mammoth costume sings baroque to contemporary hits on the organ with maximum tenderness.
Schwankhalle, Bremen | 11.-12. September 2020
Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig| 28.-29. February 2020
Hellerau (Fast Forward Festival), Dresden | 16.-17. November 2019
FFT (Impulse Theater Festival), Düsseldorf | 20., 22. June 2019
studioNAXOS, Frankfurt am Main | 24. - 26. May 2019
studioNAXOS, Frankfurt am Main | 29. - 30. November, 02. December 2018
© Peter Grün
by Nir Shauloff and Jan Philipp Stange
If we were randomly deposited somewhere in the cosmos, the chances of turning up near a planet is smaller than 1 to 1 billion trillion trillion. And that chance keeps getting smaller: the universe is largely made up of insubstantial emptiness, relentlessly expanding outwards. Dark energy squeezes itself between bits of matter and so increases the distance between the galaxies, the planets and the stars. The emptiness swallows space itself – and the earth keeps turning within this dark infinity. “But is there no hope at all?” The German-Israeli duo Nir Shauloff and Jan Philipp Stange set out on a journey through the universe and off to the boundaries of imagination. For, there is an “an infinite amount of hope – but not for us.” (Kafka)
Waggonhalle Marburg (MADE Festival), Marburg | 06. December 2018
Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt am Main | 19. - 21. December 2017
© Irina Pérez Berrio