Concept and direction: Romeo Castellucci
Music: Scott Gibbons
Co-production with Societas
German premiere
Romeo Castellucci expands the boundaries of theater. After studying painting and stage design at the Academy in Bologna, he founded the company Societas Raffæ llo Sanzio in 1981. His plays, which he creates as author, director, lighting designer, as well as set and costume designer, are shown at leading theaters, opera houses, and international festivals. He has received numerous awards, including the Premio Europa Nuove Realità Teatrali and the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale for lifetime achievements.
In his latest work, Castellucci examines the mechanisms of power: on stage are over twenty men, all amateurs in old-timey uniforms that are as reminiscent of burlesque movie scenes as they are of the darkest moments of the previous century. They receive orders and carry them out - but do they know their purpose? With "Bros," Castellucci's work takes a turn: instead of staging grand images and fictions, he focuses on our present. Here, each body becomes the plaything of authority. Where do we stand in the tension between herd instinct and individual responsibility? The stage becomes a large experiment that questions our deeply contradictory relationship to power and law. The sometimes absurd situations investigate our attitudes towards obedience and freedom, theater and politics. "Bros" breaks theatrical boundaries – a truly aesthetic and political manifesto.
