Old friends: "Nico and the Navigators" at the Muffathalle One would think that Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske, who founded the performance collective "Nico and the Navigators" a good ten years ago, were still far too young to review their own past. But during this period of time, a lot has changed in terms of how we deal with theatrical phenomena. This way of dealing with them has changed so much that today you can't really say exactly what it is that is different. That is to say: "Nico and the Navigators" still do performances in which cranky characters do cranky things that only seem gentle and harmless on the surface, but the crankiness has become a personal style and thus a trademark and is by no means as irritating as it was in the early days. As proof, one can read reviews of the performance of "The Family Council" (which are conveniently printed in the press kit), in which it is stated that one has just experienced something special, but what exactly one does not know. The piece "Der Familienrat" (The Family Council) was written in 2002, and on tortuous paths it now came to the Muffathalle, after several other Nico productions that had already been seen here, because the Muffat boss Dietmar Lupfer is fortunately a lover of these performances and also, if he is still well talked to and raises a little money, perhaps the Nico Handel opera "Anästhesia" will be brought to Munich. In the meantime, the performance is called "Family Council II" because it looks different in nuances than it did at its birth, which probably only insiders recognize, i.e. the makers themselves. And there they are again, the long-loved human animals, doing very relaxed whimsical things and quite en passant - after all, this is about family and therefore also about the horror in it - a horror that at first you almost do not notice. But phrases like "he knows what he should want, but he doesn't" refer to well-intentioned parenting terror, "she was so beautiful and so thin" to eating disorders; a dear aunt smooches in greeting that the child cringes in disgust, and anyone who had a Nazi grandfather will be reminded of him. "The Family Council" opens with a light hand a giant space of private and thus individual associations - some causes a shiver, some a wistful smile, some triggers nothing at all, but looks good. EGBERT

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