Existenz | كينونة (UA)

A play about the incomprehensible of war

In Arabic and German with simultaneous spoken translation

In Wihad Suleiman's text, we meet four people who are thrown back to their naked EXISTENCE in the midst of war. We experience with them what it means when everything they take for granted is wiped out before their eyes. These are places of the past, present and future where people struggle to understand their own existence in the face of the loss of loved ones, possessions, dreams and freedom in a dramatically changing world. With powerful imagery and language, the young author Wihad Suleiman deals with the effects of war on the psyche of the individual - directly at the scenes of violence, directly in scenarios of death. She takes the characters to nameless places, intoxicating states full of anger and doubt, hope and longing. And asks: What does it mean to simply exist? Suleiman writes about the excesses of war as it has always taken place and could take place anywhere. She finds words for the incomprehensible and, at the edge of existence, the moments that allow us to hold on to life.

A special audio concept invites the audience to experience the world of the characters up close.

The text was written as part of workshops at London's renowned Royal Court Theatre. Wihad Suleiman, born in 1988, completed her studies at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. In 2015, she spent six months at the Theater an der Ruhr, sponsored by the Goethe-Institut. In February 2017, her version of “Medea” premiered at Theater Oberhausen's Großes Haus.

Lydia Ziemke is staging the world premiere of the text in German and Arabic. Christopher-Fares Köhler translated the text from Arabic. The world premiere took place in Naples in 2023, the German premiere in Weimar.

A production by suite42 in cooperation with the Kunstfest Weimar, the Campania Teatro Festival - Napoli, the Theater an der Ruhr - Mülheim and the tak Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg - Berlin.

Supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR, as well as by the Thuringian Commissioner for Integration, Migration and Refugees.

Co-creation stage & costume: Raffaëlle Bloch

Music: Nils Lauterbach & Mohamad Al Rashi

Lighting Design: Vito Walter

Sound Design & Technical Direction: Nils Lauterbach

Production: Tammo Walter, Rania Shahin

Assistants: Hannes Maar, Alice Faucher, Omar Hamshou, Hazem Saleh, Abeer Mohamed

Voice in German and Arabic: Sandra Hetzl