In the first piece of the cycle Menschenbilder, NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS explore the most diverse forms and rituals of farewell. Farewells to people and places, farewells to phases of life and to existence itself.

IN THE DRAWERS OF LIFE

They come in pairs, but they remain individuals. To the sounds of tango, they touch and seduce themselves, even though a potential partner stands directly next to them. In front of the green cassette wall, which gradually reveals its secrets, the colorful shadows tell more about the true intentions than those casting them. And nothing seems to express the deep sadness of the people who meet here better than the squeaky wheel of a child’s wheelbarrow. Even in this early work, which will later be declared the prelude to the triptych “Human Images,” Nico and the Navigators display those stylistic elements they will perfect over the following years – their darkly grounded humor, their work with enigmatic and leitmotif-recurring sentences, and the play with repurposed props that take possession of their owners. In this meditation on the forms and rituals of farewell, there’s a constant feeling conveyed that something might begin here and now – but that everything always tends towards an end. Varieties of loss are explored on many levels, in love and work, homeland and life… and dead birds appear as symbols of longing. Oliver Proske’s stage design offers seemingly inexhaustible possibilities for surprising appearances and exits; parts of his expansive wall function like weather houses or pulpits, revealing stairs or hunter’s fences and can be climbed in daring actions. And one can already observe the early constants of the original cast: Julius Weiland’s lanky comedy, Martin Clausen’s improvisational fervor, or Sinta Tamsjadi’s mysterious alienness. In the end, however, there’s an ironic consolation: One doesn’t necessarily need to bury their head in the sand. It can also be a bucket.

With “Lucky days, Stranger!” the Dessau-Berlin perspective is reversed, as the piece premieres in the Sophiensælen and is then shown at the Bauhaus. After their first festival guest performance in Bonn, Nico and the Navigators tour with the production across Germany over four years.

ANDREAS HILLGER