On Connection

(orig. Verbundensein)

Directed by: Robert Lehniger
Stage: Lan Anh Pham
Costumes: Lasha Iashvili
Musical Lead: Matthias Flake
Image Direction: Johannes Wunsch
Camera Operation: Lisa Gras, Niels Karlson Hering
Dramaturgy: Cathrin Rose

Did you know that an audience’s heartbeat aligns while watching a play? Nine acting students show themselves on stage for the first time, with a lockdown study behind them and a life for art ahead of them. The play they are performing is based on the essay ‘On Connection’ by Kae Tempest, poet and musician. What is it about? About everything: our lives, our pains, our hopes. About the belief that more connects us than separates us. And that theater can connect us. The play is a plea for a culture of compassion and cohesion in times of great disunity and political divisions. With the courage to be emotional and kitschy, with a good portion of theatrical passion, the players lay their hearts at our feet and invite the audience to form a community whose hearts beat together for 75 minutes.

On Connection by Kae Tempest, published by Faber & Faber in English (Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin in Germany), 2020, with permission from Lewinsohn Literary Agency Ltd.