THE UGLY UNIVERSE

DAILLY DURING THE KUNSTFEST PERIOD

Ash is still spiralling through the air and smoke is rising from the rubble. »Everything must burn«, Rosa said, and the world went up in flames as if that was just what she’d been waiting for. Rosa’s messages spread in newsclips and YouTube recordings, links are copied, shared and commented on. At last someone is making a stand, showing the way to go. At first everything appears to make sense and be doable: change in small steps leading to a better world. But then there is an attack and the battlelines are obscured: anger rises. Almost tenderly the world is set on fire… Switching rapidly from utopia to dystopia and back again, »The Ugly Universe« challenges the principle of a fresh start and captures a very contemporary feeling. The German Academy of Performing Arts named »The Ugly Universe« its Radio Play of the Month for December 2021. It was directed for Deutschlandfunk Kultur by Julia Hölscher, who had previously staged the world premiere of the theatre version at Schauspiel Frankfurt in 2017.