ARTISTIC PRACTICE – THEATRE / PERFORMANCE

Lysis ~ Structure !

Interkulturelle Performance- und Videoarbeit; Strukturen, patriarchale Ordnungen, Alternativen; Interviews, performative Szenen, kollektive Diskurse.

Lysis ~ Structure ! – featured image
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Lysis ~ Structure 2021–2022
A long, exciting journey between virtuality and physical presence — and a great deal of genuine connection that overcame spatial distance and language barriers.

Lysis ~ Structure !
After countless “test… test… test…” moments, the dream of connecting two places, two languages — in other words, two people and their audience — came true.

For the theatre project “Lysis – Structure!”, the stages of two cities were linked together in a virtual space. Melanie Lüninghöner in Dortmund and Pelda Bal in Batman (in southeastern Türkiye) perform simultaneously in two languages (German and Kurdish with surtitles), presenting selected scenes from two plays.

“Lysistrata” (lysis “dissolution” and “army,” meaning “she who dissolves the army”) is one of the most famous comedies by the Greek poet Aristophanes, written around 400 BC, and “The Revolt of the Women”, by the Turkish poet and author Nazım Hikmet Ran.

Their task was to let heroines from different times and places communicate with one another — around a central question that has never lost its relevance and unfolds across its full spectrum throughout the performance:

What is the so-called role and what are the possibilities for women to dissolve and redesign a world that has so far followed male structures of order? Or, put differently: what would a “female” world structure look like?

Ayşe Kalmaz and her co-director Zelal Angay from Batman worked throughout the writing process to identify what connects the two places with regard to the very broad topic of “being a woman,” and what separates them.

An interactive platform that makes documented material from women from different parts of the world visible invites participation — see on Instagram: lysis_feminin_voices. All users are invited to respond to the central questions of the performance in the form of a selfie video and to take part in the discourse on a “more feminine” world.

Performers: Melanie Lüninghöner and the Dortmund speaking choir in Dortmund, and Pelda Bal in Batman.
Production Management & Direction (Fletch Bizzel): Ayşe Kalmaz
Direction (Yeni Sahne): Zelal Angay
Digital Stage & Visual Artist: Alexander Hügel
Costume & Stage: Turgut Kocaman

“Lysis-Structure” was produced in co-production with Theater Fletch Bizzel in Dortmund and Yenisahne Batman, in cooperation with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund, and was funded by: Kulturbüro Dortmund, Landesbüro für freie Darstellende Künste, NRW Kultursekretariat, Interkultur Ruhr, and LWL Kulturabteilung.

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