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Lacuna Kitchen

by Abhishek Thapar

A production of the Ruhrfestspiele and Kampnagel Hamburg

At "Lacuna Kitchen" we give food the same attention as the people who prepare it, serve it, and wash it up for you. We rethink hospitality in all its facets. Roles and hierarchies are dissolved and redefined. Before a dish makes contact with your taste buds during a restaurant visit and its aroma unfolds in your mouth, it is prepared, cooked, and served - by people whose existence remains miraculously invisible. But intimate interaction with the same food inevitably connects you.

You may tip well and get a smile in return, but rarely does this fleeting contact turn into an encounter. What remains is a gap: a lacuna. At "Lacuna Kitchen," we consciously notice this gap and do our best to fill it.
With "Lacuna Kitchen," Abhishek Thapar - a guest at the Ruhrfestspiele for the third time - dares a social experiment and gives you an extraordinary theater experience. He cordially invites you to participate in the proceedings of this pop-up restaurant. Here, the tables are turned and the kitchen workers take on the leading role. Learn from the experts: the art of becoming invisible, anecdotes about working conditions, autobiographies from the Western restaurant and service industry, and more. While you're at it, be enchanted by our creative four-course plant-based menu: dive in, indulge, look closely, listen carefully, and enjoy the delicious fruits of kitchen labor.

“Lacuna Kitchen“ is an explicitly participatory format. The audience is asked to participate. Consideration is given to physical and other impairments, but mere spectatorship is not possible.
The audience is invited to a meal. The menu is plant-based and the use of foods to which allergic reactions are common (e.g., peanuts) will be avoided. However, no (or very limited) consideration can be given to individual diets during the performance.

Direction and Concept: Abhishek Thapar
Dramaturgy: Tarun Kade
Direction Assistance und Production Management: Clara Hanae Tolle
Visual Design: Himanshi Parmar
Composition, Sound Design & Recording: Andi Otto
Stage- and Lighting Design: Julien F. Thomas
Performers: Alexei Bazan, Anderson Dantas, Ira Hunger, Mohammadou Kamara
Host: Magdalena Lermer
Outside Eye: Arthur Kneepkens
Menu and und Expertise: Yasemin Atici

Age: 14+

Language: in English and German

„Lacuna Kitchen“ by Abhishek Thapar. A production of Ruhrfestspiele and Kampnagel Hamburg. Supported by „Exil heute – künstlerische Produktionsresidenzen“, an initiative by Kampnagel and Körber- Stiftung. Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste from funds of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media of NEUSTART KULTUR.

Photo: Himanshi Parmar

Duration: 02 hours 15 minutes
no intermission

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