alphabet

In the organizer's words:

by Inger Christensen
Translated from the Danish by Hanns Grössel
Directed by Thom Luz

"Whenever things frighten you, it is a good idea to measure them." (Alexander von Humboldt)

Many artists and critics consider the linguistically magical world poem "alphabet" by Danish poet Inger Christensen to be one of the most innovative and important poems of the late 20th century.

In a creative crisis, the trained natural scientist begins a list of everyday perceptions and simple things in life: apricot trees, blackberries, chrome steel, haze, dioxin, moose, vinegar, mistakes (including gross, systematic and accidental ones), borders, half-shadows, hosts ... She arranges these terms and thoughts alphabetically on blank sheets of paper in order to reassure herself of the world. Starting from the "apricot tree" of the beginning, a unique sequence of words, thoughts, images and ideas emerges in an ever-expanding movement - as if the world were being named and created for the first time.

Christensen subjects the number of lines in the resulting planetary portrait to the mathematical law of the Fibonacci sequence, which also occurs in nature in snail shells, DNA spirals and the Andromeda Nebula: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 ... ad infinitum. An attempt to write against death. Christensen celebrates the beauty of all that we know about nature and at the same time describes the horror of all that we also know: the corruption of beauty, its decay into the uncontrollable and destructive. And in the midst of all this is the crucial question: "Why are we here?" How do we humans fit into this system of order? Because shortly after the letter M, the strict alphabetical order suddenly breaks off ...

The Swiss theater artist Thom Luz takes on this poem of the century to transform it for the first time on a theater stage into a sound picture imbued with music - playful and sad, fleeting, full of quiet humor and magically beautiful theatrical images. He returns to the SchauSpielHaus after his Kafka evening "Die acht Oktavhefte".

With: Alberta von Poelnitz, Ilse Ritter and Julia Wieninger

and the musicians: Stephan Krause, Ling Zhang, Peter Conradin Zumthor

Director and stage: Thom Luz
Stage collaboration: Malte Knipping
Costumes: Sophie Leypold
Musical direction: Peter Conradin Zumthor
Lighting: Jan Vater
Dramaturgy: Judith Gerstenberg

Further information: alphabet | Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg