18 — 22.05
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Beirut-Berlin
Four Walls and a Roof
theatre
| French, English → FR, NL, EN | ⧖ 1h40 | €18 / €15
In 1947, the trial of German playwright Bertolt Brecht took place in the United States, in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, responsible for combating communist activism. A list of the absurd questions Brecht had to answer during his trial is the starting point of this new poignant performance by Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué.
Exile, trials for subversion, the humanist haven of an untraceable elsewhere, the finding that a supposedly democratic country can also maintain a forceful ban on certain statements; these are the themes running through Four Walls and a Roof. Based on their own voluntary emigration ten years ago from Beirut to Berlin, and faced with the rise of the right wing all over the world, the two artists examine the misfortunes of the idealist Brecht in light of the increasing repression of free speech.
While maintaining the playful approach to theatre that the duo has always practised, they are supported by the presence of a pianist performing songs from Brecht and Eisler. Their historical evocation does not shy away from political reflections on the present: they rightfully make us question how free and open is the liberal democracy in which we are living.
18.05
- 20:30
19.05
- 20:30
- + aftertalk
20.05
- 19:00
21.05
- 20:30
22.05
- 19:00
Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Beursschouwburg
Written and directed by: Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué | Performed by: Henrik Kairies, Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué | Dramaturgy: Sandra Noeth | All songs are composed by Hanns Eisler and written by Bertolt Brecht | Additional music composed by Henrik Kairies | Technical director: Thomas Köppel | Photo: Elisabeth Hauptmann - Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv, Fotoarchiv 1/86
Production: Festival d’Automne à Paris, CENTQUATRE-PARIS | Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Berliner Festspiele in the framework of ‘Performing Exiles’, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, Residenz Schauspiel Leipzig, Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik, Forum Freies Theater
Supported within the framework of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media | Thanks to Brecht Archives (Julia Hartung, Yvonne Büdenhölzer), CENTQUATRE-PARIS, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige, Urs Koerner, Nikolaus Müller-Scholl, Ludmila Pogodina, Walid Raad, Ivan Txaparro, Anna Wagner, Maximilian Zahn, Andrei Zavalei
Performances in Brussels with the support of the French Embassy in Belgium and the Institut français Paris as part of IF Incontournable
