Link to the feature: https://www.rbb-online.de/rbbkultur/radio/programm/schema/sendungen/der_tag/archiv/20231214_1600/kultur_aktuell_1645.html

Cultural apocalyptic mood as the starting point for "sweet surrogates": a mysterious carpet of music, on the large screen above the stage a video image mixture of billows of smoke and a grey, lonely winter road. And a poem about art as an intoxicant (...) Hugo von Hofmannsthal wrote it, the sonnet is called Künstlerweihe. And the actor speaks it as if it were written for the abysses we are facing today. The world, shaken by violence and crises, there seem to be no certainties. 

[Nicola Hümpel:] How do we deal with this, what can we still tell in the space, in the art space? [Nicola Hümpel, Artistic Director] And sometimes our strength dwindles and we see what is happening out there and feel small and powerless. 

Can "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" help? The song is sung almost like a question. And the rhythmic twitches of the two singers, dancers and performers on stage are not an answer at all. 

[Nicola Hümpel:] The big question that stands above everything is, can art still seduce us or not?

She can, with a drama that makes you drunk. The singer sings her aria with such intense expressiveness, zoomed in on the screen, that the two performers, whose hair she is ruffling, are completely befuddled. 

[Nicola Hümpel:] It's a great longing to work with singers in such a way that they can really sense and feel and live the music within themselves and make their own personal film - and I think that's the only way we can really bring the classical music we love so much into the present day.

The piece: a collage of emotional states, expressed through the images that dance, singing, acting, video and, again and again, carefully dosed words create on stage. Despite constant breaks in the music, the five musicians tie everything together organically and are themselves constantly involved in the play. Dancing themselves into a frenzy, then writhing as a tortured creature, coming together in a group or throwing themselves at each other in a frenzy of blood. Or all alone, desperate. The pianist at the piano, he feels the piece - you can see that in his eyes, projected large on the screen. 

[Nicola Hümpel:] It's a very touching scene for me, because Matan comes from Israel and carries this tragic story within him. And when we did it in the rehearsal room, I really burst into tears because I saw everything reflected in his eyes.

The others on stage pause, observe, take part. This is also a spontaneous reaction from the rehearsals, captured in the play. So what can save us? There are no answers, we can't find them in distraction, substitute religions or ecstasy. As intense as the experiences may be, we can only live again and again, on and on. A beautiful image of this is when the dancer turns slowly on the floor and, filmed from above, it looks as if he is walking in circles. Completely relaxed, and then faster and faster, as if he were disappearing into a whirlpool. And it's these emotional sculptures of image, movement, facial expressions and music that stick with you.

[Nicola Hümpel:] We can't make political speeches, the mouthpiece we have is music, is the body, is the soul. And that's what we talk to and that's what they do to each other on stage and that's what they do to the audience.

A plastic bag twisting in the wind, the dancer doing the same. Sheet music swirling around - artistic chaos as a reflection of the chaos of the world. And sung very timidly, almost like a question: Here comes the sun...

In October 1998, a completely unknown group made a guest appearance at the Sophiensaele in Berlin. Nico and the Navigators, founded at the Bauhaus Dessau, presented their production "Ich war auch schon einmal in Amerika" in the Hochzeitssaal. Word quickly spread that a completely new stage aesthetic could be marvelled at here. And soon the audience was queuing all the way to Sophienstraße. "It was incredible!" says Nicola Hümpel looking back. "It was the time after reunification. The city was eager for projects that reflected the attitude to life at the time."

Congenial duo: Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske

The group led by director Nicola Hümpel and set designer Oliver Proske really took off at the Sophiensaele. Here they developed the cycle "Menschenbilder": In "Lucky days, stranger!" (1999) was about rituals of farewell (1999), "Eggs on Earth" (2000) thematised the constraints of the working world, in "Lilli in putgarden" things took on a wondrous life of their own (2001). It was a pretty crazy group of individualists that Hümpel had gathered around him: talented amateurs such as Martin Clausen and Patric Schott and the ex-dancer Lajos Talamonti were among them, but also former fellow students of Nico from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.

Hümpel had officially enrolled there for industrial design, but she mainly made sculptures and installations and developed performances. It was there that she met Oliver Proske, a student of the design pope Dieter Rams. The fact that Nico and the Navigators' theatre is so different also has to do with the fact that the two heads come from the art academy. Their aesthetic has sometimes been described as "designer theatre", but that's not quite right. Although the search for precision of form is characteristic of their work, it is never just about surface effects.

The method: improvisation releases the hidden

When asked about formative influences, Hümpel mentions the painter and director Achim Freyer, whom she met at the Bauhaus Dessau in the early 1990s. Freyer is known for his cross-genre visual theatre. Hümpel adopted some of his methods, but developed them into her very own way of working because she was only interested in figuration to a limited extent. "I was always interested in the emotional core behind it and not the form. The form was just the vehicle, so to speak, to immerse or penetrate the soul, to release something through reduction, deceleration or acceleration that would never happen in a normal reproduction of an emotion."

Even as a little girl, Nicola Hümpel carefully observed the people around her. She always noticed when something wasn't right, when the gesture didn't match the tone of voice or the words didn't match the eyes. This behavioural researcher's eye also shapes her way of working, which she describes as guided improvisation. She begins the improvisations with tasks or small motifs. Movement sequences, gestures and facial expressions are then dissected, recombined and overdrawn. She has been teaching this method at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich for 14 years. She is always delighted when she sees one of her former students using her techniques on television. With the Navigators, she has sometimes teased out a funny talent that the player had no idea about. "I believe that every Navigator has found this part of themselves in their own way that they don't live in life, but do on stage."

The protagonists are heroes of comic failure

Dishevelled hairstyles; neat costumes: in the early plays, the characters were always rather despondent and confused contemporaries, these heroes of comic failure catapulted themselves into all kinds of oblique positions and threw themselves into curious communication rituals. The absurdities of everyday life are played out in the scene collages. The multifunctional stage spaces created by Oliver Proske were always co-players and counter-players. The strictly rational design formed a contrast to the human inadequacies. The Navigators are also famous for their cryptic, twisted sentences. One-liners such as "And why deny your origins on a slope?" or "My dilemma is on the brink."

Over the years, Nico and the Navigators have developed their very own style. Of course, there have always been dry spells. But the group was simply too successful to stop. They also had a circle of prominent supporters who always encouraged them to carry on. At one point, however, Nicola Hümpel did think about quitting. She wanted to do one more production and take all the freedom she could; if it failed, she would then dissolve the company. However, "Kain Wenn & Aber" (2003) was a great success.

A Schubert evening together with the Musicbanda Franui

The Schubert evening "Wo Du nicht bist" (2006), which was created in co-operation with the Austrian Musicbanda Franui, marked a turning point. Previously, Nico and the Navigators had made picture theatre with music, but from then on they experimented with new forms of musical theatre. As a result, more professional singers, dancers and musicians joined the troupe. The Japanese dancer Yui Kawagutchi and the American tenor Ted Schmitz are among the key protagonists of the second generation of Navigators. Hümpel has now modified their working methods somewhat. However, when working with singers, she is also interested in developing a characteristic physicality far removed from all operatic conventions.

Phenomenal to last so long as an independent group

"Our aim is to negotiate existential themes between the genres of song, music, dance and drama with each other and on an equal footing," says Hümpel, describing the joint approach. Productions that have characterised the ensemble include the Handel evening "Anaesthesia", the Rossini production "Petite Messe Solennelle" and "Silent Songs" … Nicola Hümpel has also directed at the Stuttgart and Hanover State Operas. However, she has never been tempted to only work at large theatres: "I know that I wouldn't be able to do my work exclusively at permanent venues. It's a signature style that is based on the fact that the people who are involved want to do it."

To last 25 years as an independent group is phenomenal. That's why the Navigators want to celebrate their anniversary in style. In February, the group put on a one-off performance of "Lost in Loops" at the Konzerthaus and are now developing a chamber music version of the piece, "sweet surrogates", once again focussing on the topic of intoxication and addiction. The piece was once again developed through collective research.

The fact that Nico and the Navigators are so successful is also due to the fact that Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske work so well as a pair of artists: "We are very diametrically opposed in some things, so we have very different skills and that's probably why it worked out," says Proske with dry humour. Initially, he had nothing to do with theatre and just wanted to build something for his girlfriend. Proske is also responsible for management and technical management. Looking at the figures was always sobering. But the work always inspired him.

The constant struggle for adequate funding sometimes brought the artist couple to the brink of despair. But now Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske are optimistic about the future. Because Nico and the Navigators are now to be given a budget title again. They already had this once before, but it was revoked under Culture Senator Lederer. Which also upset some cultural politicians at the time.

Reliable funding at last, another reason to celebrate

Other companies that have proven their worth over many years are also to be given their own budget items from 2024. For Hümpel, this is a historic step. "After a long career in the world of 'independent' theatre, it is now possible to become a permanent Berlin institution with planning security, even as a company without a house. This is particularly important in musical theatre, as we have to plan well in advance." There is certainly reason to celebrate. In "sweet surrogates", Nico and the Navigators are now looking for collective intoxication. Here, art is a substitute with a guaranteed euphoric effect.