Das Adressbuch

“He held it against me.”

A randomly found address book becomes the starting point for a radical experiment. Artist Sophie Calle copies the contacts of a man she doesn’t know and begins to reconstruct his life. She speaks with friends, acquaintances, relatives, and casual acquaintances. From their stories, a picture gradually emerges of a person she never meets directly, yet who seems increasingly tangible. What begins as curious research turns into a transgression. Between closeness and distance, documentation and projection, the question arises: Is it permissible to get to know a person through the perspectives of others? Who is actually telling whose story here? And where does the line between artistic freedom and intrusion lie?

When Sophie Calle published her research in the newspaper “Libération” in 1983, she sparked a scandal. The subject speaks of an invasion of his privacy. It is precisely this ambivalence that makes “The Address Book” a work of art that remains unsettling to this day. A criminal case without clear guilt, one that entangles the audience itself. What remains of a person when others speak about them?

Director Ruben Müller and his team approach this material with a documentary yet poetic sensibility. In his work, Müller explores real-life events and their narrative forms. For “The Address Book,” he has developed a production that transforms Calle’s experimental setup into a theatrical exploration of gaze, control, and the longing for the Other.
 

Cast: Daniel Hoevels, Alberta von Poelnitz, and Sasha Rau

Director: Ruben Müller
Set design: Chloe Kelly
Costumes: Jacqueline Elaine Koch
Dramaturgy: Matthias Günther

More info:The Address Book | Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg