EUROPEANA is a playful ensemble piece, a theatrical experiment and an investigation of our stubborn belief in progress.
One hundred years. Ten actors. Two hours.
This satirical and controversial text compresses a hundred years of European history into a breathless, kaleidoscopic narrative which collides the invention of the brassiere with unspeakable tragedies, Barbie dolls with dictators, and fleeting human moments with epic events.
EUROPEANA was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and scheduled for production in 2020. The opening night was cancelled due to the pandemic and we are now looking for new co-prodcuing partners to complete the project. If this is you, get in touch!
How do we remember? How do we tell stories? How many different truths can exist simultaneously? Why do stereotypes survive? How do we endure contradictions? In Ourednik's text, the 20th century becomes a literary character, shaped by very different European perspectives. Our production asks ten actors to go on stage to embody that character. But how can this be done? How can any epoch be described? What is its syntax, its rhetoric, its expression? The players spare no effort, they give their all, they search for forms and formats, develop strategies and throw them overboard again, rich in sound, in images, muscular in performance, in their attempt to share the experience with the audience. The deeper the actors dive into the material, the faster the journey becomes, and the conflicts and upheavals, the hopes and failures of this ideological century are transferred onto the actors themselves.
Director Maria Aberg
Dramaturg Judith Gerstenberg
Designer Ana Inés Jabares-Pita
Lighting Designer Richard Howell
Sound Claire Windsor
Music David Ridley
Movement Ayse Tashkiran