At the beginning of Novalis' novel fragment Heinrich von Ofterdingen, the young Heinrich dreams of a blue flower, which became the central motif of longing in Romanticism. It symbolises the quest for knowledge of nature and, consequently, of the self. Later, the blue flower is humanised in Heinrich's encounter with Mathilde. The two fall in love and from that moment on accompany each other across the thresholds of reality and beyond death.

‘Ein anderes Blau’ takes up this symbolism and transposes it into the present. Can the depression and fear of doom of the present be countered with imagination that transcends thresholds?

A group of people, equipped with nothing but their bodies, embark on a journey through the last hour of their existence. They seek the other blue in the sea, in beautiful death, in political action, in embrace, in empathy and in each other's company. Together they fail at the thresholds of their existence, together they cross them and dream themselves into paradise.

When will humanity's attempts to confront death with technology, as demanded once again today by techno-utopian manifestos, seem more ridiculous than the romantic call to embrace death, farewell and longing? In the face of the death of civilisation and the climate catastrophe, the evening aims to call for farewells – not in melancholy, but as a call for cooperation.

Conceived as a response to the evening ‘Das eingebildete Tier’ (The Imaginary Animal), which thematises humanity's desperate attempt to express itself through language, ‘Ein anderes Blau’ (Another Blue) questions the moment when even the veil of language falls and develops its narrative almost solely from the presence of the bodies.

Doubleshow ‘Anarchy and Longing’
Ein anderes Blau (UA) will also be performed as a double bill together with the play Das eingebildete Tier (DEA) on the following dates:
7 November, 15 November, 22 November, 29 November.

Helene Röhnsch, FAZ: 

„They [the players] search for connection, find it and lose it. In the background, a digital countdown is running – it is the last hour of these people's lives. What do you do with these precious minutes? The players sing a delicate ‘In Paradisum’ from Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, which is eventually replaced by a wild Swan Lake remix with hard electro beats. [...] After Novarina's powerful texts, language has almost disappeared in ‘Ein anderes Blau’ (Another Blue), directed by Charlotte Sprenger. Sometimes the tableaux vivants develop a poetic power [...].“

Andrea Müller, WAZ:

„The actors perform on stage almost without words, creating a musical series of images. The stage opens onto the park behind the theatre – the Romantics saw nature as a meaningful force and a place of self-knowledge.“

„Charlotte Sprenger calls on us to look at death (or any other kind of ending) rather than repressing it. What could be good about something coming to an end? Couldn't something innocent, something new, emerge from it?“

Dorothea Marcus, DLF Kultur: 

„The second part of the double bill also deals with this longing [...]. Language has almost disappeared. Red digital numbers on the wall count down a good half hour. The actors romp and frolic on an air cushion with a painted sea. Sometimes the holiday celebration turns into an orgy – there is smoking, dancing, singing, everything that distracts from the misery of the world. But at some point, the time on the digital clock runs out – a beautiful allegory for death. Before that, there was racket and gibberish, challenging, philosophical, difficult – and somehow comforting.“