Theater of Absurdity on Collision Course

In a particle accelerator, charged particles are beamed into collision course. Physicists observe what happens when accelerating the particles to high kinetic energy and letting them collide into one another. The Berlin-based theater company, Nico and the Navigators, have brought this experimental procedure to the stage. Their piece, The hour we knew too much of each other, inspired by Peter Handke and premiered at Kampnagel, studies the structure of social fabric by propelling human monads into a course of collision. Bizarre characters appear left and right from behind the backdrops and cross a minimalistic stage meeting each other or more often missing each other. A metrosexual in a leather jacket and high heels, a militant jogger, a yuppie who has mind-melted with his smartphone, a diva, a bimbo, a doormat husband with his shrew of a wife populate this cabinet of curiosities. When they meet, large quantities of unease, embarrassment, alienation and violence are set free. Spontaneous fusions are rare and unstable. Over the ninety-minute piece only a nun and a woman in a burka walk side-by-side across the stage in seeming understanding. The experimental design which Nico and the Navigators apply originates from Handke’s 1992 piece, The hour we knew nothing of each other. It is nothing new. But it is apparently worthwhile to repeat the experiment periodically to verify current types of people with former insights. Thanks to their capable acting, dancing, and singing, the Berlin troupe successfully gave Handke’s fundamental idea a contemporary update. With just eight performers, they have brought the whole social cosmos to life. Speaking most eloquently with their bodies, spoken word takes on the functionality of a costume reaffirming each personality type. There is much to grin and laugh about in this character-theater. The underlying tone is of mild resignation. Once, about three quarters through the piece, all actors meet on stage briefly for a meaningful discourse. A brief episode before the absurd Ring around the Rosie continues.

<< Back to press overview