Susanne Kennedy Markus Selg

ANGELA (a strange loop)

Archive 2023
Theatre
1/3

1h40

In English, surtitled in French

Concept, text and direction, Susanne Kennedy
Concept and direction, Markus Selg
Performers, Diamanda La Berge Dramm, Ixchel Mendoza Hernández,
Kate Strong, Tarren Johnson, Dominic Santia
Voices, Diamanda La Berge Dramm, Cathal Sheerin, Kate Strong,
Rita Kahn Chen, Rubina Schuth, Tarren Johnson, Susanne Kennedy,
Ethan Braun, Dominic Santia, Ixchel Mendoza Hernández,
Marie Schleef, Ruth Rosenfeld
Sound design and editing, Richard Alexander
Soundtrack, Richard Alexander, Diamanda La Berge Dramm
Live music, Diamanda La Berge Dramm
Video, Rodrik Biersteker, Markus Selg
Costumes, Andra Dumitrascu
Dramaturgy, Helena Eckert
Lighting, Rainer Casper
Artistic collaboration and tour management, Friederike Kötter
Stage assistant, Lili Süper
Costume Assistants, Anastasia Pilepchuk, Anna Jannicke
Trainee director, Tobias Klett
Production, ULTRAWORLD PRODUCTIONS
Management, Something Great - Berlin
Artistic Production, Philip Decker
Technical production, Sven Nichterlein
Set construction, Stefan Pilger
International distribution, Rui Silveira & Cathal Sheerin - Something Great

Produced by ULTRAWORLD PRODUCTIONS
Management Something Great - Berlin
Artistic Production Philip Decker
Technical Production Sven Nichterlein
Set Construction Stefan Pilger
International Distribution Rui Silveira - Something Great
Touring Niki Fischer - Something Great
Coproduced by Wiener Festwochen (Vienna); Festival d'Automne à Paris; Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe (Paris); Festival d'Avignon; Holland Festival (Amsterdam); Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels); National Theatre Drama / Prague Crossroads Festival; Romaeuropa Festival (Rome); Teatro Nacional de São João (Porto); Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Berlin)
With the support of Stichting Ammodo (Ammodo Foundation); Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), with the support of Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media)

The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and the Festival d'Automne à Paris are co-producers and co-presenters of this show.
With the support of the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès

In this minute exploration of the everyday life of a woman who falls victim to a strange illness, Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg plunge us headlong into a world beyond that of appearances. We are confronted with the reverse side of an “after” world, in which it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish the real from the virtual.

From birth to death, and beyond, ANGELA (a strange loop) plunges us into the everyday life of a woman who, little by little, succumbs to a mysterious illness. Set in a sort of post-humanist television studio, a vast echo chamber which is also, perhaps, the reflection of the inner life of the main character, the director Susanne Kennedy and the artist Markus Selg set up breathtaking interplay between mirrors and distortion. In a disturbing way, the performers come close to a state of perfect, albeit artificial, state of reality. The play-back dialogues are slightly out-of-synch, as if the performers were trying to imitate real life, thereby blurring the frontier between true and false. Zooming in on the commonplace gestures and various streams of consciousness that form the strange loop of her everyday routine, the millions of tiny experiences that all human beings are made up of, the duo attempts to grasp exactly what it is about Angela that makes her Angela. And in doing so, what it means to simply be yourself in today’s world.

 

Please note the use of stroboscopic effects during the show.