ABOUT

“The pandemic has forced us to think about alternative forms for the art of theatre. How to create a theatre outside of the theatre, how to bring the theatre to people’s attention, without a public venue? And what kind of theatre does this area need? We ask these and many other questions in Exil/Backstage, an experiment that combines the intimacy of the camera with the search for truthfulness of the theatre.

For 4 weeks I filmed a workshop with the actors of the Berliner Ensemble, working on an adaptation of Lion Feuchtwanger’s novel “EXIL”, a story about German refugees living in Paris shortly before the Second World War. Our search for today’s relevance of this novel, and in extension for the relevance of theatre, has led to a documentary series that gives the audience insights into the backstage-side of the art of “not knowing” of the theatre: the search for meaning, the meaning of the text as well as the meaning of life. A path of trial and error, of failing, of failing again and failing better… ” (LP)