International Festival of Contemporary Theatre

Programme

Compassion. The History of the Machine Gun

Milo Rau / Schaubühne Berlin

9 September 20.00, Riga Film Studio | 10 and 15 eur

In one of the most complex artistic reactions to the contemporary refugee crisis Compassion. The History of the Machine Gun Milo Rau and two exceptional performers – Ursina Lardi and Consolate Sipérius take the audience to the political hot spots of our time: the Mediterranean routes of refugees from the Middle East and the Congolese civil war zones. The semi-documentary double-monologue, based on interviews with NGO workers, clerics and war victims in Africa and Europe, deliberately ventures into contradictory terrain: how do we endure the misery of others and why do we watch it? Why does one dead person at the gates of Europe outweigh thousand dead people in the Congolese civil war zones? Compassion. The History of the Machine Gun not only contemplates the limits of our compassion but also on the limits of European humanism.

About artist

Milo Rau is a Swiss theatre and film director, journalist, essayist, and lecturer. In 2007, Rau founded the theatre, social sculpture and film production company International Institute of Political Murder which he has been running ever since. Milo Rau focuses on multimedia treatment of historical and socio-political conflicts placing reeanctment of real life events in the centre of his artistic practice. Recently Milo Rau has been appointed as the new artistic director of NTGent.

Credits

Direction: Milo Rau
Performance: Ursina Lardi, Consolate Sipérius
Set and costume design: Anton Lukas
Video and sound: Marc Stephan
Dramaturgy: Florian Borchmeyer
Research/Dramaturgy collaboration: Mirjam Knapp, Stefan Bläske
Lighting design: Erich Schneider
Production: Schaubühne Berlin
In cooperation with the European Theatre Network PROSPERO (Schaubühne Berlin, Théâtre National de Bretagne/Rennes, Théâtre de Liège, Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Göteborgs Stadstheater, Croatian National Theatre/World Theatre Festival Zagreb, Athens & Epidaurus Festival)
Performance image: Daniel Seiffert
Premiere on 16 January, 2016