In frenzy

In countless terms and related to the most diverse areas of life, "Rausch", this strange state beyond normal consciousness - not clearly translatable with the english word "frenzy" - presents itself: it can be understood as a form of denial or escape, but it can also hold feelings of wholeness and supreme happiness. It can be relieving in a beneficial way, but also destructive, experienced in community or a highly individual experience. "Rausch" can be a way of resisting narrow social structures, but it can also be a means of having transcendent experiences: Theater an der Ruhr starts the season 23/24 under the heading "Rausch" and explores all those states - from euphoric to destructive - in which the boundaries of the ego become blurred and one "forgets oneself".

We invite you to join us in finding out what the current social position and meaning of the phenomenon of frenzy is - and can be! For the diversity of experiences, occasions, and behaviors associated with it tells us something about the institution of our present. What is the function of being in trance or ecstasy in a society that has recently become increasingly crisis-ridden? What enrichments, but also what risks, emanate from "other" states of consciousness that deviate from sober ordinariness and are supposedly not "normal"? What could be the social location of such states? What kind of realms of experience are at stake here at all? And who ultimately defines what is norm and what is deviation?

"Rausch" is ambivalent. Depending on how one looks at it, it presents itself differently: It can be a form of denial and repression; a way of undermining control and its secret confirmation as short-term escapist relief; a means of (spiritual) cognition and disruption of mind and body. It can enable ego transcendence and communal experience, but it can also lead to isolation and mass frenzy. Regardless, however, of whether we call it ecstasy, high, trance, obsession, or fury: When looking at this phenomenon in its various manifestations, it is ultimately always about the question of consciousness: How do states of ecstasy and consciousness relate to one another - and consequently: how do we look at the world, with clouded consciousness or in a state of exaggerated wakefulness? It is not without reason that the sentence "Change your consciousness" is at the center of this first theatrical island: it can help us to understand "Rausch" as a symptom of a crisis and to rethink ways of acting, but it can also invite us to leave conventional boundaries and to see in it the motor for change in the world.

How to grasp it as a change of consciousness and make it tangible with the means of art is not least a core question of theater. As a special "machine of consciousness" - and as a place of festivity - it has always been on the trail of states of "Rausch". We therefore cordially invite you to come to the theater, to join us on this special exploration and to celebrate a "rauschendes Fest" - a lavish party!