1934 - STIMMEN

Or: When my husband had the great fortune to be allowed to hand refreshments to the leader in the Tempelhofen airport restaurant.

Winner of the Kurt Hackenberg Prize for Political Theatre 2020
Shortlisted for the Berlin Theatertreffen 2021
Nominated for the Cologne Theatre Prize 2020

Info text

The movement is young, the front man charismatic. Hearts and heads fly to him. Joining the party? A matter of honour. The NSDAP grows to become the party with the largest membership in German history. What is going on in this country? What are these Germans thinking and feeling? Questions that the US sociologist Theodore Abel wanted to answer through a prize competition in 1934. He received around 700 autobiographical essays from Nazis of the first hour.

Futur3 looks back and asks the question who were the people who systematically pushed the historical Nazi movement using all means. It also questions our present: What life paths lead to radicalisation? And how do new political majorities capable of overthrowing a democratic system emerge from an individual unease in society?

1934 - Stimmen is based on a collection of essays by the US sociologist Theodore Abel (1896-1988). In the early 1930s, Abel is interested in the political rise of the NSDAP - what moves Germans who sympathise with the party? Abel wants to collect the data for his study through a prize competition. In June 1934, with official support from the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, he launched a writing competition. The best life story of an early NSDAP member was sought. Abel received around 700 autobiographical essays, varying in length from a handwritten note to 80 typewritten pages. The focus is always on the question: "Why I became a Nazi". Futur3 subjects the CVs to a theatrical re-reading and collages the personal confessions into a polyphonic tour through German thinking and feeling. In the cellar vaults of the NS-Dok, the audience alternates between live performance and multimedia installation.

1938 Stimmen-1160
1938 Stimmen-9396
1938 Stimmen-9537
1938 Stimmen-1059
1938 Stimmen-9644
1938 Stimmen-1212
1938 Stimmen-9473
1938 Stimmen-0987
1938 Stimmen-9556
Photos: ©Martin Rottenkolber

Dates

Past dates:

04.09.2020 - World premiere
05.& 06.09.2020, 08.09.-13.09.2020
28.09.-30.09.2020

24.10., 26.10., 27.10., 28.10. and 29.10.2021
02.11., 03.11., 05.11., 06.11. and 07.11.2021
Start times every 10 minutes 18:00 to 20:00
Location: NS Documentation Center, Appelhofplatz 23-25, 50667 Cologne

Tickets: Buy online here!
Ticket prices: €20 / reduced €15

The course can be walked in slots of two, so booking a fixed time slot is essential. Please book your individual appointment early. 

Cast

By and with: Frank Casali, Anja Jazeschann, Stefan H. Kraft, Luzia Schelling, Regina Welz (play); André Erlen (direction); Charlotte Luise Fechner, Sandra Nuy (selection & editing of Abel papers); Charlotte Luise Fechner (choral text); Jörg Ritzenhoff (composition & music); Mariana Sadovska (music & vocals); Petra Maria Wirth (costume design); Kane Kampmann (video, painting & space); Jens Standke (video); Anna Marzinzik, Merle Peters, Nastassja Pielartzik (Abel narration); Boris Kahnert, Jan Wiesbrock (lighting design); Lena Schleicher Baltrusch, Marc Brodeur (technical); Samira Clausius (assistant director); Theresa Heußen (production management); neurohr & andrä (public relations);
play version: Ensemble; Graphics: André Erlen

Acknowledgement

Thanks to the NS-Dokumentationszentrum, Tanzfuchs PRODUKTION as well as Berlin Story Verlag and Wieland Giebel


© A production by Futur3 - freies Theaterkollektiv Köln in cooperation with Freihandelszone - Ensemblenetzwerk Köln

Conveyor

With the kind support of:
Kunststiftung NRW, Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW

 

 

 

Tags: germany / opinion / performance / politics / theatre