Berlin - Yes, Oliver Proske is pretty excited. The stage designer admits this without being asked. He has just wished the troupe the obligatory toi, toi, toi. And Nicola Hümpel, the eloquent boss, can't manage much more than a "hello. It's Tuesday evening, a quarter to eight. The premiere of their play "The Future of Yesterday" is about to begin in the ballroom of the venerably patinated Sophien-Säle in Berlin-Mitte. With it, Nico and the Navigators are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their founding - in the very place where their rise began in 1999. "You can make it easier for yourself," says Proske: "A revival for the festival and that's it. But simple just doesn't suit us." Anything is possible True. And the impossible was always just the right thing to do. When Nicola Hümpel (Nico) and Oliver Proske created and presented their idiosyncratic theater at the Bauhaus in Dessau, many waved it off: That's great thinking, but it won't work. Never! Nico, whose creative stubbornness and theatrical imagination can move mountains, and her man for the ingenious technical solutions simply ignored this. Or said to themselves: Now straight! Sentences come to mind here that could be borrowed from the small catechism of the social market economy: They never gave up on themselves. And always believed in themselves. They worked hard and spared neither their international company nor themselves. And their success proves them right. Nico and the Navigators have been in demand worldwide for years. More than 200 guest performances in half a hundred cities are on the books. This success is based on irrepressible will and artistic originality. The productions combine dance, spoken theater, pantomime and music into a lively, rhythmic whole - with the courage to be oneself in each of the actors. And always pushing the envelope. Tragedy and comedy This was also the case in the most recent premiere. In 90 minutes, the Navigators tell of their origins, of childhood, family and career paths. Some of the images are almost painfully intense, often tragic and comic at the same time. Solos and scenes for two or more players follow in composed alternation. "Time after Time," the goosebump howler by Cyndi Lauper, comes almost at the end. Without fear of big feelings, with a little irony. Even if youth jargon is frowned upon - here it should be allowed for once: Horny theater!

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