Daniel Wetzel (Rimini Protokoll): EVROS WALK WATER 1 & 2 (DE)

Daniel Wetzel is a member of the Rimini Protokoll, a well‑known art collective visiting us already with their fifth project. Wetzel, Stefan Kaegi, and Helgard Kim Haug founded the collective following their common experience at the Giessen Institute for Applied Theatre Studies. They are known as (co)founders of the reality theatre trend – using various innovative theatrical approaches, their works provide new perspectives of what we perceive as reality.

The title Evros Walk Water 1 & 2 combines two elements as the basis for the performance: a three-minute piece Water Walk by John Cage, where the musician creates music on the set that featured a bathtub, transistor radios, a pressure cooker, a plastic duck, etc.; and the name of he river which separates Greece from Turkey, a deadly border of “Europe” for those who tried to enter before it was closed with a massive fence – the Evros. In Athens, Wetzel cooperated with eight boys who arrived in Greece by boat from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. They have not been permitted to travel in Europe, so what they share about their life, had to find another form. With audio recordings over headphones we listen to their stories and jokes, and to their instructions how to perform Water Walk. This way, it becomes a playground for the audience combining the stories with Cage’s playful piece, to play with them based on their instructions, making music in their and the author’s witty style. Part 2 beams the piece into the present. The boys have grown older, some of them have chosen to find other places to live in Europe, so the instruments change, and thus the sound of their concert to us, that we perform.

Cast: Abel, Aron, Ehsan, Jawad, Jined, Massoud, Moussa, Omer, Sowie
English version: Andreas, Dennis, Elektra, Maria, Nefeli, Orfeas, Thodoris
Concept and direction: Daniel Wetzel
Dramaturgy: Ioanna Valsamidou
Research: Konstantinos Kallivretakis, Ioanna Valsamidou, Nefeli Myrodia, Margarita Gerogianni
Set design: Adrianos Zacharias, Magda Plevraki, Maria Kakaroglou
Sound: Peter Breitenbach, Lampros Pigounis, Panos Tsagarakis
Lighting design: Guy Stephanou, Michalis Kloukinas, Martin Schwemin
Light objects: Guy Stephanou, Michalis Kloukinas
Video: Ehsan
Flute, caval: Dimitris Brendas
Translation: Bakar Albakar, Abbas Golbas
Producers: Violetta Gyra, Juliane Männel, Heirdun Schlegel, Charlotte Streck
Production assistant: Kostas Valsamidis
Production: Rimini Apparat, Onassis Cultural Centre / Fast Forward Festival
Co-produced by: HAU Hebbel am Ufer
Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe – Department of Culture
Based on: Evros Walk Water – a coproduction by: TAK Liechtenstein, Schloßmediale Werdenberg, Rimini Apparat

Foto: Daniel Wetzel

The performance is in English.

90 minutes