A theatrical-musical project by Christoph Marthaler
In a vacated building of Otto Wagner Hospital today called „Jugendstiltheater“, Christoph Marthaler will embark on a theatrical-musical investigation concerned with exclusion and selection, with the euthanasia practised by the National Socialists and the ideological cleansings of Stalinism as the two humanity-destroying selections of the 20th century. The project moreover addresses exclusion and selection processes that might still take place in the future as well as our fear of these. To the extent that national borders are losing their importance, new borders are being erected to separate those who belong from those who are to be got rid of. From the late 1930s until after 1945, children were killed at the Otto Wagner Hospital. The ward where the young victims of the euthanasia laws were interned was called „Spiegelgrund“. Today the hospital is largely inhabited by psychiatric patients. The project will incorporate the biographies of past and present patients. A key element of the production will be provided by the Preludes and Fugues by Dmitry Shostakovitch, performed by Markus Hinterhäuser, which will weave a startling thread of encapsulated emotions in the performance space. Shostakovitch wrote this music when faced with the choice between exile and death or compromise and survival.
With Rosemarie Hardy, Markus Hinterhäuser, Ueli Jäggi, Jürg Kienberger, Katja Kolm, Josef Ostendorf, Nicolas Rosat, Clemens Sienknecht, Bettina Stucky, Jeroen Willems
Discussion with the audience
On 13 May following the performance, Jugendstiltheater, free admission. Limited number of seats available!
