with Martin Baum, Manolo Bertling, Judith Goldberg, Lisa Guth, Sofia Iordanskaya, Ruben Sabel, Ella Olivia Bender Semerci, Seyrane Ay, Kardelen Basnak, Arian Bünnagel, Yelda Dinc, Navin Felgendreher, Rainer Steinhaus, Asya Utku, Sumeyra Uygun, Bernd Wellbrock

“My job is a football player and not a politician.” (Mesut Özil) — Mesut Özil is many things at once: a ball artist, world champion, role model, poster boy for integration, scapegoat, scandal figure. His story reflects the tensions of a country that struggles with its idea of belonging.
In Der Zauberer von Öz(The Wizard of Öz) verwandelt Akın Emanuel Şipal diese Biografie in eine märchenhafte multiperspektivische Reise, in der Zauberkräfte auf Popkultur, Sport und PAkın Emanuel Şipal transforms this biography into a fairy-tale-like journey with multiple perspectives, in which magical powers meet pop culture, sports, and politics. Özil sets out on a (nightmare-like) retrospective of his career—haunted by the ghosts of the past. Directed by Aram Tafreshian, power relations, discourses on integration, and the centrifugal forces of our society are brought to the stage in all their absurdity. The evening switches rapidly and fragmentarily between genres and perspectives, revealing more about the observers than about the observed.

Photos © Theater Bremen, Susanne Brendel

With contributions by Chelsea Yeboah, Carmen Rimoschat, Boris Dretvic, Leontina Ursu, Hannah Seyffarth, Emma Schweigl, Johan Henke, Nevio Bonde, Seymen Harmanci, Inge Brendel, Monika Ossami Saidy, Lily Frank

Reis mit Würstchen (Rice with sausages) is an immersive piece of music theater that poses the question "Do we need identities?".
Dennis, in his mid-thirties, has to come to terms with his German-Indonesian roots and gets caught up in a strange swirl in his search for his identity.
Sometimes humorous, sometimes cheeky, sometimes rebellious and always with great seriousness, SPORT questions the concept of "identity" as a divisive element of society and searches for commonalities that can unite us.

Funded by the Bezirksamt Hamburg Mitte and many Startnext supporters.
With friendly support by the Niels-Stensen-Gymnasium Hamburg.

The guest performance in Frankfurt was funded by the city Frankfurt am Main - cultural office.
The guest performance in Leipzig was funded by the Stadtbezirksbeirat Süd of the city of Leipzig.
The guest performance in Stuttgart was enabled and funded by the Forum der Kulturen e.V. und die tri-bühne Stuttgart. Also funded by Wiederaufnahme- und Gastspielförderung des Dachverbands freie darstellende Künste Hamburg e. V. aus Mitteln der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur und Medien.

Photos © Esteban Pérez, Shahira Issa

Light designer Norbert Chmel Sound director and live electronics Christina Bauer Concept and design of live elektronics Alexis Baskind Dramaturgs Florian Amort, Ksenija Zadravec Costume supervisor Anna Kreinecker Hair and Make-up Ulli Rauter
with Anna Davidson, Alexander Kaimbacher, Megan Kahts, Martin Lechleitner, Harald Hieronymus Hein, Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod, Timothy Connor, Karl Huml and Bibiane Zimba (Okichi (Video)) Chorus Wiener Kammerchor /Chorleitung: Bernhard Jaretz Orchestra amadeus ensemble wien

Berthold Brecht's 1940 theatre play is an edit of a Japanese text and deals with abuse of power and the instrumentalization of an individual for personal benefits.
The original piece, written in 1923 by Yamamoto Yūzō, tells the story of the first American consul entering the Japanese town of Shimoda in 1856. As negotiations for a planned trade agreement are not going well, he threatens to bombard the city. Eventually, the geisha Okichi agrees to serve the consul in order to save her home town. For her being in the company of a foreigner, however, she is outlawed by society. By referring to the biblical character Judith, Brecht emphasizes society's responsibility for Okichi’s fate.

Press rewievs:

APA - Austria Presse Agentur
[…] Neither the director nor the set designer Susanne Brendel have a problem with transcending the different time layers. The costumes are more or less contemporary and often gender-neutral, a large mirror above the empty stage allows the movements of the characters to be viewed from two perspectives, occasionally serving as a video screen on which images of human skin create an intimacy […].“
(18.08.2023, cd/jh/maf)

Vorarlberger Nachrichten
„Susanne Brendel's set design creates an atmospheric scenery that captures the historical setting and at the same time offers space for modern interpretations.“
(18.08.23)

BR-Klassik
„The audience attends a performance about the biography of the geisha Okichi, whereby the spectators commenting on the stage repeatedly become characters in the plot. Ultimately, Carmen Kruse's production amounts to action painting: in the course of the drama, the image of a resistance fighter of some kind is created, with facial features painted on the floor and covered in sand, which are distortedly reflected in a crooked mirrored wall.“
(18.08.2023, Bernhard Doppler)

A coproduction between Bregenz Festival and Neue Oper Wien.

Images © Anja Köhler, text: Bregenzer Festspiele (shortened)

How can we live in a world that will always be uncontrollable? In a world where old certainties regularly crumble, collapse or slowly disintegrate as soon as you've made yourself comfortable in them?
Nach dem Sonnensturm (After the solar storm) is a wild ride into the unknown and unforeseen, far beyond all limits, to where all certainties have dissolved into glittering solar dust and the dinosaurs have found their peace. In the third and final part of the performance series blockparty (you are invited) the group SPORT sends its protagonists and the audience on a fun and bumpy journey.

With friendly support by Fleetstreet Theater Hamburg, Kultdiak Stuttgart e.V., and Studio KFZ 4 EVR. Funded by Bezirksverwaltung Stuttgart-West. The accompanying research on Travelling Operas by Susanne Brendel was supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR.

Fotos © Esteban Pérez

Soundscape Manuel Zwerger (Sounddesign), Sinfonieorchester Münster Interviews Penda Diouf, Carmen C. Kruse, Gesa Maria Kruse Project coordination Susanne Brendel, Carmen C. Kruse, Gesa Maria Kruse, Leonora Scheib

The video installation Time splits was created as part of the opera Great Open Eyes (Manuel Zwerger, Carolyn Amann, Carmen C. Kruse).
Based on conversations with grieving people in Münster and Vienna, the installation tries to portray how the loss of a loved one manifests itself in life, in the body, in places, in encounters, in remembering, in telling.
It wanders from the everyday to the eternal, from the first moment to the long afterlife, from innermost feelings to encounters with the environment.

A production by Civic Opera Creations und Theater Münster.
In partnership with Bethanien Sternenkinder Beratungsstelle Münster/Osnabrück, Hospiz Greven des Malteser Hilfsdienst e.V., Ehe-, Familien- und Lebensberatungstelle des Bistums Münster, Hospizbewegung Münster, Königskinder Münster, Herzenskinder Österreich, Verein trauernde Eltern, Selbsthilfegruppe Regenbogen Wien, und Caritas Wien. Supported by Penda Diouf, Schloss Unterloibl, Karba Pack und EKP.

Images © Susanne Brendel

Guests Luise Catenhusen (Cornett, Paetzold Bass, recorders), Marian Heilmeyer (actor), Lil Paulin Heinecker (actress), Kara Leva (singer), Rodolpho Sagbo (dancer), Klara Schürg (speaker of tale), Pastor Sieghard Wilm der St. Pauli Kirche Hamburg (speech), Anicia Stehmeier (actress) Voice recordings Javad Aghchelou, Scarlett Dobczyk, Hatice Dörflinger, Marina Dumont, Joel Forsström, My Johansson, Linda Kokkores, Sangyeon Lee, Sichi Li, Lynn Scheidweiler, Radojka Šutić

KOLLAPS is a theatre installation in the panorama hall of a seminar house. Over the course of five hours, a protagonist is being shaken in his certainties. Unfamiliar characters are appearing and questioning his belief in principles and institutions, they rebuild the room around him, confront him with music, stories, films, dance. A transformed world is opening up in the seminar room. The audience is invited to enter, leave, return or stay whenever and as long as they want, move freely, and grab drinks at a bar.

KOLLAPS is the first episode of the three-part series blockparty (you are invited). More Information: ensemble-sport.de

Funded by Bezirksamt Hamburg-Mitte and Claussen-Simon-Stiftung, with friendly support by Tagungshaus KAHH.

Images © Priyanka Sarkar, Shahira Issa, Lukas Schupp

Cast Simon Kluth, Utari Kluth, Joscha Eißen

The experimental music short film hodl, don’t turn tells the story of a young man trying to find access to the complex world of finances and the stock market. It is a composition of documentary elements of a music performance as well as fictional scenic fragments. 

A project by AM I RIGHT, in cooperation with Kulturinsel Stuttgart, funded by a scholarship by the Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

Stills © AM I RIGHT

vom Aufgang der Sonne was created as a response to the 250th anniversary of Hegel’s birthday in 2020. The artist collective n.n.n. collective (Susanne Brendel, Jasmin Schädler, Julia Schäfer) used this opportunity to take a critical look at Hegel and his Philosophy Of History. The publication focuses on perspectives that have been overwritten or made invisible by Hegel and his legacy.

Therefore, the Haitian Revolution is given a lot of space, in the form of an edited transcript of the symposium  Mit Haiti an der Hegel Bar. For this event, which took place in May 2020, n.n.n. collective invited Dr. Vanessa E. Thompson, Matti Traußneck und Dr. Jeanette Ehrmann. Furthermore the publication contains a conversation with geographer and artist Dr. Sasha Engelmann in which she and n.n.n. collective question the politicization of cardinal compass directions and cartography. In addition, scattered throughout the publication are exhibition views of an exhibition at the project space of Kunstverein Wagenhalle in November 2020 that had to stay closed due to the second lockdown.

Moreover, the format of the publication challenges conventions of temporal linearity in terms of design as well as a specially developed literature map. The intricate design of the publication was developed and executed by HuM Collective. vom Aufgang der Sonne is published bilingually in English and German and is available on n-n-n.xyz

A Project by n.n.n. collective and InterAKT Initiative e.V. In cooperation with Kunstverein Wagenhalle, Theater Rampe and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart. Funded by the City of Stuttgart, Ministery for Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg and LBBW Foundation.

Images © n.n.n. collective

Assistant director Maya Ziehlke Cast Sophie Bock, Thomas Harms, Johannes Scheidweiler, Susann Thiede Voice recordings (Benny Marek) Markus Paul, (Millie) Emma Seeber, (Tua) Hannah Schurig, (Sal) Ole Dubrau Children Elisa Belka, Hannah Schurig, Jannik Meisel, Emil Krohn, Ole Dubrau, Raik Wolke

In the 18th century, Frederick II longed for Prussian produced silk. Some of the mulberry trees that have been planted for this purpose are still standing in Cottbus today. Weather conditions have however always complicated silk production. After a vulcano eruption put an end to the first attempt at silk, it was not until the 20th century, during the Third Reich, that mulberry trees grew again in the streets of Cottbus. This time to produce silk for paratroopers. The private cultivation of the trees and the production of silk continued until the GDR. Will one day the climate facilitate the Cottbus silk?

In Feinstoff, Dresden-born author Lars Werner tells four Cottbus stories that reach from the past to the distant future. The stageing of the play, directed by Rafael Ossami Saidy, weaves the layers of time like silken threads into a great whole, always focusing on those resistant people whom history has forgotten.

Images © Marlies Kross

Dramaturgs Franziska Betz, Dorothee Harpain Cultural managers Leonora Scheib, Valerian Geiger Light designer & technical manager Matthias Rieker Assistant set and costume designer Isabella Koeters Music Ensemble Modern Head of musical rehearsals and musical assistant Maria Conti Gallenti Sound director Norbert Ommer

A project by 2018-2021 fellows of Akademie Musiktheater heute by Deutsche Bank Stiftung, consisting of the three pieces A Woman in Labor (Composer Patrick T. Schäfer, Writer Pauline Jacob, Director Anika Rutkofsky, Soprano Alina Huppertz, Bass baritone Harald Hieronymus Hein) , Studies of Duration (Composer Saskia Bladt, Jesse Broekman, Diana Syrse, Manuel Zwerger, Writer Miriam Stoney, Director Philipp Lossau, Mezzo-soprano Frederike Schulten) und Icaro (Composer Alessandro Baticci, Writer an director Gabrielė Bakšytė, Soprano Alina Huppertz, Bass baritone Harald Hieronymus Hein).

Further information  www.akademie-musiktheater-heute.de

A cooperation between Deutsche Bank Stiftung, Ensemble Modern and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK).

Images © Sonja Palade, Seehund Media

Cast Simon Kluth, Joscha Eißen  Composer Simon Kluth

i would prefer doing something else is a theatre installation that deals with the power of the sentence „i would prefer not to“, and examines the contagious potential of subversion. Starting point is the famous short story „Bartleby, the scrivener“ by Herman Melville. Over the course of six hours, sparks of music, narration and texts develop from the friction between two principles: order and certainty on the one hand, and refusal - „i would prefer not to“ - on the other hand. The installation ends in a utopian concert.

In cooperation with Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart.

Fotos © Julia Schäfer/ADK BW

Cast Chamma Laamoumri, Brahim Slaoui, Abderahman Alaoui, Mohammed Farsi, Ahmed Moncef, Asmae Taoukil, Meryem Kouadir, Mourad Boualoud, Zakaria Zaki, Youssef Graich, Rachid Brighal, Fatima Zahra Kaddouri, Samir Idrissi Wakili, Abdnasser El Wardi, Mohammed Ghezouami, Maryam Khir, Ghita Jellale, Bouchra Zdih, El Abbass Idrissi Qoubi, Youness Soussi, Hassan Choukri, Yassmine Jerjou, Boutaina Barbara, Asmae Moustakil, Mohammed Weld Arbia, Yassine Al Rhammam, Benaissa Maid, Abdelkhalek Boukhars, Aya Lkarichi, Ghita Bellamlih, Amal El Kouchi, Oumaima El Mamouni, Nour El Houda Ben Hdech, El Alaoui Abdelouahhab, Safae Chrifi Alaoui, Douae Chrifi Alaoui, Aya Tsouli Faroukh, Doha Alami, Amina Khaliss, Maha Aftait, Nissrin Akrich, Kawtar Ben Ahmed, Abir Badaoui,Samia Saber, Hoda Jawhari, Oussama Nazih, Mohammed Saghiri, Taha Youbi, Amine Amrani, Hamza Hamami, Abdelah Chrifi Alaoui, Yassine Teroufi Thanks to Omar Chenaffi, Abdelkhalek Boukhars, Prof. Rachid Jai-Mansouri, Prof. Said El Mtouni, Siham Tahri, El Alaoui Abdelouahhab, Benaissa Maid and Frederik Rauscher

Palais Glaoui. A world between dreams and reality. The walls speak at night. The sound of the city becomes music. The voices of the living transmit the messages of the dead. The everlasting questions of love, time and universe. We enter a dreamer‘s kingdom. Between exhaustion and escapism. In the heart of this palace. The spirit, a labyrinth. Distant rituals and chants. Floating bodies and enquiring questions navigate through the chambers. The garden full of live, with animals and ballads. An ensemble of children and adolescents from Fès transform the palace to a transient dream, you are invited to discover..

قصر الجلاوي. عالم بين الحقيقة والخيال. تتكلم الجدران في سباتها، فتتحول أصوات المدينة إلى رنات موسيقية. تنقل أصوات الخلف أخبار السلف، ثم تطرح تساؤلات حول الحب والزمن والكون. إننا ندخل بذلك عالم الأحلام بين الإنهاك والانفجار. نتواجد بقلب القصر، هناك شبح، متاهة، طقوس غريبة وغناء. تتخلل الغرف أجسام طائرة وتساؤلات فلسفية بينما تقطن الحيوانات وتتردد الأناشيد في الحديقة. فيتحول القصر من خلال الفرقة المكونة من أطفال وشبان مدينة فاس إلى حلم عابر ينبغي الاستمتاع به.

Festival de Fès des musiques sacrees du monde 2019 in cooperation with Institut Français de Fès and Goethe Institut.

Images © Susanne Brendel, Katharina Grof, Carmen C. Kruse, Frederik Rauscher

The audience, lying on the floor, is surrounded by sound and a panoramic video projection that evoke a slice of the universe. Visible body heat, but fear of one's own shadow.

Funded by Kulturamt der Stadt Stuttgart, with kind support of Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg and Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart.

Images © Florian Model