Nico and the Navigators: Empathy for the devil
The devilish and the pact with evil is at the centre of the latest production by the Berlin music theatre performers of Nico and the Navigators: "Empathy for the devil". A free scenic-musical association that was actually supposed to premiere at the Konzerthaus a year ago for the Konzerthaus anniversary and on the occasion of 200 years of "Freischütz". Tonight, "Empathy for the devil" is now premiering in a chamber version at the Radialsystem. A so-called staged concert that gets to the bottom of the origins and reasons for evil, without which good would be inconceivable. Frauke Thiele watched the rehearsals:
Compassion for the devil, understanding for evil - that's what this musical-performative collage by Nicola Hümpel and her artistic team from Nico and the Navigators is about, no more and no less:
"Where does social evil exist at the moment (...) it's not this idea that the beast is raging inside us and that everyone is basically bad, but, (...) that actually evil lies in society, in looking away, in collective misbehaviour, so to speak."
Understanding the devil also means, of course, understanding what makes us become evil: Money, politics, power, seductiveness - so quickly good becomes evil and vice versa. And in the same way, scenes, characters, music change, from David Bowie to Purcel, from John Lennon to Rubinstein - played by surprisingly few musicians: violin, trumpet, electric guitar, percussion, piano - the mix is fast, interesting and the mixture of styles is no problem!
"...we basically went into the research collectively and chose pieces of which we had the impression that we could tell something with them. That's basically always the case with us (...) we look at a lot of things and then certain things stay in the production and others get thrown out again."
The devil appears at the beginning in the form of the pianist, who speaks and laughs into the camera at the front of the stage, then the actor takes on the role of the devil, but evil also appears again and again in the female singer, the two male singers, the dancer. Understanding evil, however, does not automatically mean compassion or sympathy for the devil, as in the Rolling Stones - even if the song is recited in German...
Thoughts emerge, are carried on, dissolved in images, the music, the singing, the dancing, the spoken and performed lyrics. Sometimes mental references are clear, sometimes you sense them more in moments that hit like a blast.
"You have to say that as artists, of course we all have two years of suffering behind us and - something wants to come out. We also slowly feel the demon inside us and a force that always wants the bad and always creates the good (laughs). So we are all so close to bursting and now we have to express that and this evening is wonderfully suited for that and we hope that we also touch a soul core of the audience with it."
This artistic power that wants to get out - it can be felt in every way. The devilishness in the looks of the singers and performers literally jumps out at us. Captured by three cameras on stage and then mixed live and artfully on film - on the large video screen at the back of the stage.
By the way, only two very elementary scenes from Freischütz remain: the pact with the devil and the scene with the missed bullet, and these are very modified. But that doesn't matter.
Otherwise, everything is quite freely conceived and improvised, artfully put together. What remains: a feeling of unease, also a sadness that things are the way they are, in us and in the world. - But a statement that also sticks: (the human being is good in itself, it's just not that simple...).
"That we are by all means more cooperative beings than we think and that lies in the origin of man and we have lost to believe in it because we are too fascinated by this evil and that is something that is perpetuated again and again in history..."
This basic idea of the piece "Empathy for the devil" runs through music, images, play. And, by the way, it is borrowed from Rutger Bregman's book: Humankind - A Hopeful History. It is also quoted again and again in the play. So despite everything that weighs so heavily right now, despite all the sad power that is in the play, there is definitely hope…
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