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Be-Suchenden (The Visitors)

A mobile backyard performance for all

generations and languages.

Theatre of Details

"Touch, grab, hold, grab, snap, poke, palpe ... There were handprints everywhere. The hands left nothing untouched, not a single surface, not a single millimetre of the planet. The fingers had made the Earth their territory. The hands were everywhere, touching everything. Everything that got into their palm was analysed, dismantled, appropriated and ultimately, owned and possessed.

The earth became the object of an unstoppable manipulation, of an uncontrolled palpation."

Die Be-Suchenden

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Die Be-Suchenden

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Around the Braunchweigerstrasse and the Wildenbruchstrasse, in the darkness of the backyards of apartments buildings, something is brewing. A group of performers is settling here. From the windows curious neighbors are looking down on the unusual gathering. A screen of light is projected on a backyard wall, and vibrant images slowly warm up the space. Lights are emerging between the trees, and the bicycle stand... glowing puppets are being brought to life.

A delicate melody rises up in the cold winter air, and more faces appear at the windows.

It’s about to begin, in your backyard, « the Visitors » are about to start the show…

About the performance:

The BE-Suchenden (the visitors) are performances of object theater, music, dance and video projections. The giant puppets of Theatre of Details are brought to life and come visit the neighbours in Neukölln on their doorsteps and in their backyards.

For a moment, the performances enchant the usual living spaces and interrupt the daily routines with surprising neighbours coming directly from an imaginary world.

Inspired by texts of the surrealists, myths and iconographic stories, the Theatre of Details presents short fantastic stories, which the neighbours can follow directly from their windows.

Outside & for free!

Direction: Claire Chaulet
Performers : Lola Lustosa, Honey Birch, Celestine Croquison, Claire Chaulet, Carla Lewest, Bridget Hines
Music : Francesco Lo Giudice (Olmo), Joy Tyson
Video mapping : Martin Ducreau
Off-voice: Miriam Aberkane
Assistance : Julie Karmark Jensen, Saba Tsereteli, Qusai Zaghmout

Supported by the Stiftung für kulturelle Weiterbildung und Kulturberatung, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa. Part of Draussenstadt.

Do you have a nice backyard and want us to perform for you ?

We are open to suggestions, contact us: info@artistania.org

Process and Concept

The theater group looks for a public space or apartment block, and makes contact with those living there (residents neighborhood initiatives, property managers, caretakers etc ...). The theater then performs in the backyards of these homes.

Props and tech are transported from one yard to another through the use of cargo bikes (genereous support of Cargobike4all).

The audience can watch and follow the play from their windows. The “Be-Suchenden” travel from backyard to backyard, creating organic interactions with each of the apartment's conditions.

Last but not least, this format allows the distancing rules to be used whilst allowing good viewing conditions.

Mobile theater

Since 2018 we have been developing mobile stage structures with the desire to create a transportable theater that travels to its audience instead of waiting for them to find the theater. The performance “Die BE-Suchenden” transforms “routine spaces” with assigned uses into enchanting urban stages.

With the current limitations of social and cultural life, we see an important approach in the further development of this mobility, on the one hand to keep cultural life alive and, on the other hand, to target new groups who rarely visit cultural sites.

We hope the ‘mobile play’ will remain active even after the pandemic, and go on to perform in a wide variety of places that are particularly affected by exclusion mechanisms.

Backyards and strengthening house communities

The performances are intended to address the unique features of Berlin's urban development, with its many backyards and settlements. To turn these semi-private / semi-public locations into public stages addresses the issues of domestic isolation, hoping to overcome it for a while through a shared experience with the household community.

Clapping and singing together at windows or balconies created moments in the first lockdown that helped alleviate the isolation. We want to revive this potential energy of the neighborhood community, and deepen it through a theater experience. Using the experience of the performing arts into society as a means of gathering.

The power of visions

Based on texts and manifestos of surrealists, of myths (Icarus, Narcisse ...) and iconographic stories

(Don Quixote, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland ...) we wanted to stage "Rabbit Holes stories" in which the

residents can immerse themselves in the fictional world through their windows. We want to explore imaginary journeys and the potential of dreams, in these times of immobility.