Books
In Everything: And Other Performance Texts from Germany, Matt Cornish gathers texts drawn from performances by five of the most renowned theater collectives working today: andcompany&Co., Gob Squad, Rimini Protokoll, She She Pop, and Showcase Beat Le Mot. Drawn from theater events variously described as documentary, post-dramatic, and live art, the texts collected in Everything seldom look or read like plays—some comprise rules for improvisation; others could best be described as theatrical scenarios; a few are transcripts; one includes a soup recipe. Yet amid these dramaturgical tests and trials, one finds poetry: heartbreaking stories of disability and triumph as well as strange, disjointed fairy tales interrupted by communist songs.
This volume is an extension of the original theatrical experiments. For the reader, the texts are calls to action. They ask one to do things: watch the news, listen to music, make soup, and dance. While the groups do not mean for actors to repeat the words printed here, they invite the reader to adapt their ideas and rules to make their own entirely new productions.
A publication by Rimini Protokoll in cooperation with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt as part of 100 Years of Now. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media due to a ruling of the German Bundestag.
Edited by Miriam Dreysse and Florian Malzacher
240 pages | 296 full colour images | ISBN 978-3-89581-187-6 | 19.90 Euro | Alexander Verlag Berlin
Available at: www.alexander-verlag.com.
Elderly ladies, teenagers, unemployed air traffic controllers, talented mayoral candidates, Vietnam soldiers, counsellors, Bulgarian longdistance lorry drivers, Indian call centre workers – "real people" are always at the centre of Rimini Protokoll's directorial work. Experts of their daily lives, they are the defining aspect of the documentary work of Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi and Daniel Wetzel. It is rare that the clash between fiction and reality is made so clear, and simultaneously so emotional and playful, as in the theatre of Rimini Protokoll.
In this volume, journalists, academics and artists present and reflect upon the stage productions, as well as the site-specific works, audio tours and radio pieces of the successful trio of directors. With numerous colour photographs and a complete catalogue of works.
Articles by Eva Behrendt, Miriam Dreysse, Ehren Fordyce, Heiner Goebbels, Hans-Thies Lehmann, Florian Malzacher, Annemie Matzke, Tobi Müller, Priyanka Nandy, Matthias Pees, Rimin Protokoll, Kathrin Röggla, Jens Roselt und Gerald Siegmund.
Co-produced by Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft (Universität Gießen), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), National Theatre School Continuing Education (Copenhagen), Project Arts Centre (Dublin), PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (Vancouver)
Kindly supported by Pro Helvetia