THEATER MANIA 1: SNOWSTORM
Presseinformation, 15. Januar 2009
Austrian Premiere:
WOLFSKERS, Part 2 of the TRIPTYCH OF POWER
Toneelhuis Antwerpen’s TRIPTYCH OF POWER consists of three separate parts, each directed by Guy Cassiers, the sensitive explorer of the area where theatre, art and music overlap.
The three plays form an artfully structured and brilliantly composed theatrical analysis of dictatorship, from its opportunistic origins, through its stubborn refusal to relinquish power, to its catastrophic aftermath amid the ruins of war.
Taking its title from the Dutch name for the poison deadly nightshade and inspired by the works of Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov, WOLFSKERS, the second part of Guy Cassiers’ TRIPTYCH OF POWER, presents intimate portraits of three dictators: Lenin, Hitler and Hirohito. Whereas MEFISTO FOR EVER is a play about the artistic relationship to power and the ways it can be publicly depicted, WOLFSKERS focuses in intimate detail on the private worlds of three enormously powerful men, each at the moment when that power is beginning to slip from his grasp.
ATROPA. AVENGING PEACE confronts us with the horrors of war and the human cost of political conflict. This is what dictators leave behind: ruined cities and abused women whose husbands and children have been killed. ATROPA is set in the Trojan War, the archetypal mother of all wars. Tom Lanoye has created a new, contemporary adaptation of a number of Greek tragedies, notably Euripides’ THE TROJAN WOMEN, together with other highly topical material. An ensemble of remarkable actors and actresses drive the play and the triptych to a shattering conclusion.
EMPIRE transports the audience to a historical battlefield. It employs an approach that is simultaneously masterful, confusing and charming to launch a debate about power and art. This new work by the Superamas plays with the mechanisms of representing historical and political facts and calling them into question.
If you have questions, need photo material or wish to obtain press passes, please contact Astrid Bader or Heidelinde Schweighofer by calling +43-1-5240542-15 or 14, or via e-mail to astrid.bader@bsx.at or heidelinde.schweighofer@bsx.at.
