“Will? I say to the moment: stay a while! you are so beautiful!”
This Goethe quote is the tagline of this unusual project by actress Judith Rosmair and DOCUMENTA artist Theo Eshetu, who last year enjoyed a successful collaboration with KUNSTFEST WEIMAR for the world premiere of Theresia Walser’s Endlose Aussicht (Endless View).
The immersive performance project is set in a closed theatre during a pandemic lockdown. Wearing virtual reality glasses, the audience moves through the imaginary theatre space and follows the 360-degree action all around them. Virtual reality offers the audience that precious experience of feeling physically present and part of the action, but it still can’t replace the magic of live theatre and real-life encounters. The audience is directly addressed and becomes increasingly involved in the plot, until they realise they are actually the main character in this play, namely none other than Goethe’s Faust, who finally arrives on stage and meets Gretchen in the flesh. They are joined by an actress who despairs at there being no audience to perform to anda nd asks whether the theater is a bygone, a lost cultural practice? The result is a lucid performance on the element of liveness in the performing arts.
Bye Bye Bühne (Bye Bye Stage) treads a fine line between the virtual, live performance, and reality while putting the audience’s perception to the test. Where does illusion end and reality start?
KONZEPT, TEXT & REGIE — Judith Rosmair
VR-PRODUKTION & REGIE — Theo Eshetu
KAMERA & SCHNITT — Samuele Malfatti
TONMISCHUNG — Fabian Kühlein
TON — Ben Brix
MIT Judith Rosmair
FAUSTS STIMME — Wolfram Koch
PRODUKTION — Judith Rosmair | Theo Eshetu
KOPRODUKTION — KUNSTFEST WEIMAR
FÖRDERUNG — THÜRINGER STAATSKANZLEI —MEDIENWIRTSCHAFT UND -STANDORTFÖRDERUNG | KULTURAKADEMIE TARABYA / GOETHE-INSTITUT E. V./ RUSCH-STIFTUNG
MIT BESONDEREM DANK AN PETER JORDAN
