sicht:wechsel
Back to Back - Small metal objects
Copyright: Jeff Busby
The integrative festival sicht:wechsel and Linz09 collaborated throughout 2009 to present culture by and for people with and without handicaps. And to present it not as a niche product but rather as an integral part of society’s regular cultural calendar. In addition to guest productions, project offerings included cooperative undertakings and (continuing professional) educational courses.
The four categories of sicht:wechsel’s activities are: moving, acting, meeting and dancing. The multifarious results of these efforts were presented throughout the year at a variety of venues. Several of the productions were part of the lineup of other festivals such as THEATERMANIA1 & 2.
Of particular note was a theatrical highlight: “Small Metal Objects” staged in Shoppingcity Wels by the Australian company Back to Back Theatre. Audience members outfitted with headphones witnessed an intensive personal drama played out amidst shoppers going about their business in a mall, whereby the boundaries separating the observers from the observed gradually dissolved.
WHAT / Integration & Theater
WHEN // January, April, August and November 2009
WHERE // Linz and Wels
www.sicht-wechsel.at
IDEA / CONCEPT // sicht:wechsel/Elisabeth Braun, Alfred Rauch, Linz09/Airan Berg
sicht:wechsel:spielt - Small metal objects
Small metal objects
Back to Back Theatre/Aus
The astounding imaginativeness of the Back to Back Theatre ensemble lets us experience how one can get lost in the crowd at a shopping center and, in doing so, make amazing discoveries. Their stage is an actual shopping center. Audience members outfitted with headphones are seated on a grandstand set up especially for this performance right in the middle of the hustle and bustle. And no sooner have the performers and observers taken their places than the human drama begins to be played out all around them, including a dramatic liberation operation conducted amidst the comings and goings of the shoppers. In the play, the Australian cast members fight to carve out a place for themselves in life. As professional actors and actresses, they make no bones about the fact that they’re considered to be mentally handicapped, since this is precisely why they experience the world in a fascinatingly different way! Meanwhile, the audience can experience how this extraordinary constellation can result in touching theater. Australia’s Back to Back Theatre is one of the world’s foremost integrative ensembles.
WHAT // THEATRE
WHEN // 24 / 25 April 09
WHERE // Shoppingcity Wels
CONCEPT / DIRECTOR // Bruce Gladwin
CONCEPT //
Simon Laherty, Sonia Teuben, Jim Russell, Genevieve Morris
COMPOSITION / Design // Hugh Covill
In collaboration with Verein Integrative Kulturarbeit / Festival sicht:wechsel
Category: Festival, Dance/Performance, Theatre
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