Abdruckkörper - Theater by Yatri Niehaus

by Yatri Niehaus

(in German with English subtitles)

- Please note: strobe lighting is used during the performance!

Because I grew up here, I dream. But whose dream is it?

Growing up inside a given order doesn't mean you feel at home in it, that you carry it forward. Does it? Having society imprinted on your own body doesn't mean you dream the same dreams. Does it?

The Afro-German protagonist of Abdruckkörper navigates his body with and against the prescribed direction. Because the direction is marked. German society is a labyrinth: walls produce visibility and exclusion, paths worn down by others form networks of relationships and clusters of capital. Whiteness is inscribed into the social structure. The protagonist - the I - lurches.

The body itself is the stake on the track upward. It goes upward, right? It is moved along the track - not voluntarily, not always consciously; it follows the trajectory while feeling the centrifugal forces, the risk of breaking out. The body is the stake, because it is malleable - from within and without. And society - is it malleable? At what cost?

Abdruckkörper marks the theatrical debut of film director Yatri Niehaus. The dramatic text was written as part of the Unconventional Signs writing workshop at Ballhaus Naunynstraße during the 2020/21 season. Its world premiere marks a remarkable continuity: following Schwarz Tragen (Elizabeth Blonzen, 2013), Mais in Deutschland und anderen Galaxien (Olivia Wenzel, 2015), Jung, giftig und Schwarz (Amina Eisner and Thandi Sebe, 2015), Walking Large (Toks Körner, 2017), Call me Queen (Thandi Sebe, 2017), Aesthetics of Color (Toks Körner, 2019), and Courageux! Furchtlos! (Amina Eisner and Atif Mohammed Nor Hussein, 2021), this is the eighth Afro-German drama to be created and staged at the venue.

Photo: Yoel Diaz