Rimini Protokoll
Encyclopedia
Rimini Protokoll is the label for the works of artists Helgard Haug (female, German, born 1969), Stefan Kaegi (Swiss, b. 1972) and Daniel Wetzel (German, b. 1969) in various team constellations (related to theatre, live art, radio plays and installation), often mentioned as inventors of a new wave of documentary theatre. They met during their Applied Theatre Science & Performance Studies at the Giessen University, Germany.
This team of authors, directors and designers of sound, stage and videos of their performances works in this constellation since 1999 and created the label in 2002. It is not named after the so-called Rimini Protocol
of 2003. However, "Protokoll" (protocol) is a programmatic term marking reports and (their own) protocols to be their sources of inspiration and stage text, rather than drama.
They have been invited twice to Berliner Theatertreffen
, Germany's most important festival featuring the 10 best performances of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Since 2003 their projects rather take place in the framework of big national theatres like Vienna's Burgtheater or Schauspielhaus
in Zurich. However, they are often announced as the inventors of a new form of documentary theatre, exploring a theatre of performers who are not professional actors but experts or specialists out of their particular spheres of life—professionals of a theatre of the real world. So, instead of presenting actors performing characters as parts of drama texts they present people whom they find through elaborate research and casting procedures and with whom they develop theatre performances according o their abilities and skills to convincingly and strongly present themselves in front of a national theatre crowd used to watch the perfect fake instead of the unperfect but real. "Rimini Protokoll brings real life to the stage", states German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau
, "in a way that no other theatre form has been able to. The unmistakable strength of these performances lies above all in the fact that in spite of the proximity to the persons whom they portray a rift appears between the role and the personality, and with it an awareness of the risk, that life could gain the upper hand, and theatre could lose control over itself."
"Call Cutta", one of their recent works, was based on outsourcing: The performers or 'experts', who were employees of a call center, were located in Salt Lake, Calcutta, India, providing the audience in Berlin, Germany with individual cell phone performances, with each call center agent guiding just one spectator solely through the remote maze of lanes of Kreuzberg, Berlin, narrating the story of Subhash Chandra Bose
, an Indian revolutionarist freedom fighter.
Recently Rimini Protkoll took the risk to cross their method of research based theatre with experts who generate their own lines in contrast to drama based theatre with great texts - as Friedrich Schiller
's Wallenstein
trilogy (2005), and Karl Marx' Das Kapital
, Vol.1. (2006, rewarded with the national German drama award Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis 2007). In 2008 they've received the European Theater Award Premio Europa.
This team of authors, directors and designers of sound, stage and videos of their performances works in this constellation since 1999 and created the label in 2002. It is not named after the so-called Rimini Protocol
Rimini protocol
The Rimini Protocol is a proposal made by the geologist Colin Campbell in 2003. It is intended to stabilise oil prices and minimize the effects of peak oil....
of 2003. However, "Protokoll" (protocol) is a programmatic term marking reports and (their own) protocols to be their sources of inspiration and stage text, rather than drama.
They have been invited twice to Berliner Theatertreffen
Berliner Theatertreffen
Berliner Theatertreffen is a theatre festival in Berlin, Germany....
, Germany's most important festival featuring the 10 best performances of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Since 2003 their projects rather take place in the framework of big national theatres like Vienna's Burgtheater or Schauspielhaus
Schauspielhaus Zürich
The Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the German-speaking world. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" after its location on the Pfauen Square in Zürich, Switzerland. The large theatre has 750 seats...
in Zurich. However, they are often announced as the inventors of a new form of documentary theatre, exploring a theatre of performers who are not professional actors but experts or specialists out of their particular spheres of life—professionals of a theatre of the real world. So, instead of presenting actors performing characters as parts of drama texts they present people whom they find through elaborate research and casting procedures and with whom they develop theatre performances according o their abilities and skills to convincingly and strongly present themselves in front of a national theatre crowd used to watch the perfect fake instead of the unperfect but real. "Rimini Protokoll brings real life to the stage", states German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau
Frankfurter Rundschau
The Frankfurter Rundschau is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition as well as an e-paper...
, "in a way that no other theatre form has been able to. The unmistakable strength of these performances lies above all in the fact that in spite of the proximity to the persons whom they portray a rift appears between the role and the personality, and with it an awareness of the risk, that life could gain the upper hand, and theatre could lose control over itself."
"Call Cutta", one of their recent works, was based on outsourcing: The performers or 'experts', who were employees of a call center, were located in Salt Lake, Calcutta, India, providing the audience in Berlin, Germany with individual cell phone performances, with each call center agent guiding just one spectator solely through the remote maze of lanes of Kreuzberg, Berlin, narrating the story of Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose known by name Netaji was an Indian revolutionary who led an Indian national political and military force against Britain and the Western powers during World War II. Bose was one of the most prominent leaders in the Indian independence movement and is a legendary figure in...
, an Indian revolutionarist freedom fighter.
Recently Rimini Protkoll took the risk to cross their method of research based theatre with experts who generate their own lines in contrast to drama based theatre with great texts - as Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's Wallenstein
Wallenstein (play)
Wallenstein is the popular designation for a trilogy of dramas by German author Friedrich Schiller. It consists of the plays Wallenstein's Camp with a lengthy prologue, The Piccolomini , and Wallenstein's Death...
trilogy (2005), and Karl Marx' Das Kapital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
, Vol.1. (2006, rewarded with the national German drama award Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis 2007). In 2008 they've received the European Theater Award Premio Europa.
Selected productions
- 2000 "Kreuzworträtsel Boxenstopp" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Künstlerhaus Mousontum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
- 2001 "Apparat Berlin" (Haug / Wetzel, Prater der VolksbühneVolksbühneThe Volksbühne is a theater in Berlin, Germany. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in what was the GDR's capital....
, Berlin, Germany) - 2001 "Torero Portero" (Kaegi, Goethe-InstitutGoethe-InstitutThe Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
Inter Nationes Córdoba, Argentina) - 2002 "Shooting Bourbaki. Ein Knabenschiessen" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, luzerntheater Luzern, Switzerland; coproducing theatres in Switzerland, Germany and Norway)
- 2002 "Deutschland 2" (Haug / Ernst / Kaegi / Wetzel, Festival "Theater der Welt", Bonn, Germany)
- 2002 "Sonde Hannover" (Haug / Ernst / Kaegi / Wetzel, Kröpcke-Hochhaus, Festival "Theaterformen", Hannover, Germany)
- 2002 "Matraca Catraca. Uma viagem REM" (Kaegi, Goethe-InstitutGoethe-InstitutThe Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
Inter Nationes, Fundação Cultural Estado da Bahia e Empresa Farol da Barra, Salvador) - 2003 "deadline" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg / Neu)
- 2003 "The Midnight Special Agency" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brussels, Belgium)
- 2003 "Markt der Märkte" (Haug / Wetzel, Theater BonnTheater BonnTheater Bonn is a theatrical organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts in Bonn, Germany. The organization operates several performance venues throughout the city.-External links:*...
, Germany) - 2004 "Zeugen! Ein Strafkammerspiel" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Hebbel am UferHebbel am UferThe Hebbel am Ufer is a theater and international performance center based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded fusioning 3 theaters in Kreuzberg, Berlin:* Hebbel Theater, now called HAU1...
Berlin, schauspielhannover, Hanover, Germany) - 2004 "Hot Spots" (Haug / Wetzel, Thesseum A Theatre for the Arts, Athen / Goethe-InstitutGoethe-InstitutThe Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
Athens, Greece) - 2004 "Sabenation. go home & follow the news" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brüssel / Festival "Theaterformen", Braunschweig, Germany)
- 2004 "Brunswick Airport. Weil der Himmel uns braucht" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Festival "Theaterformen", Braunschweig, Germany)
- 2004 "Schwarzenbergplatz" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Kasino im BurgtheaterBurgtheaterThe Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
, Vienna, Austria) - 2005 "Call Cutta. A mobile phone theatre" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Star Theatre / Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe-InstitutGoethe-InstitutThe Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
) Kolkata, Hebbel am UferHebbel am UferThe Hebbel am Ufer is a theater and international performance center based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded fusioning 3 theaters in Kreuzberg, Berlin:* Hebbel Theater, now called HAU1...
, Berlin) - 2005 "Mnemopark" (Kaegi, Theater Basel, Switzerland)
- 2005 "Wallenstein" (Haug / Wetzel, 13. Internationale Schillertage, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Germany)
- 2005 "Cameriga. A Metabureaucracy" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Festival "Homo Novus", Riga, Latvia)
- 2006 "Blaiberg und sweetheart19" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Schauspielhaus ZürichSchauspielhaus ZürichThe Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the German-speaking world. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" after its location on the Pfauen Square in Zürich, Switzerland. The large theatre has 750 seats...
, Hebbel am UferHebbel am UferThe Hebbel am Ufer is a theater and international performance center based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded fusioning 3 theaters in Kreuzberg, Berlin:* Hebbel Theater, now called HAU1...
, Berlin) - 2006 "The Police Training Opera" und "The Memory Job" (Wetzel, X-Wohnungen CaracasCaracasCaracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela) - 2006 "Cargo Sofia-X" (Kaegi, div. Orte in Europa, UA: Theater Basel, Switzerland)
- 2006 "Karl Marx: Das KapitalDas KapitalDas Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
, Band 1" (Haug / Wetzel, Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus u.a.) - 2007 "Breaking News" (Haug / Wetzel, HAU Berlin, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Schauspielhaus Frankfurt and others)
- 2008 "100 percent Berlin" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, HAU Berlin)
- 2008 "Call Cutta in a Box" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, Calcutta, Berlin, Zurich, Mannheim, Paris, Helsinki, Wrocław, Dublin and others)
- 2008 "Black Tie" (Haug / Wetzel, HAU Berlin, Wiener Festwochen, Gessnerallee Zürich])
- 2009 "Hauptversammlung" (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel, ICC / Hebbel am Ufer Berlin)
- 2009: "Radio Muezzin2 (Kaegi, Hebbel am Ufer Berlin)
- 2009: "Der Zauberlehrling" (Haug / Wetzel, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Hebbel am Ufer)
- 2009: "Heuschrecken" (Kaegi, Schauspielhaus Zürich)
- 2009: "Vung Bien Gioi" (Haug / Wetzel, Staatsschauspiel DresdenStaatsschauspiel DresdenThe Staatsschauspiel Dresden is a theatre on Theaterstraße in Dresden. It is maintained by the Free State of Saxony, hence its name. It is made up of a main auditorium and a studio theatre...
) - 2009: "Sicherheitskonferenz" (Kaegi, Münchner Kammerspiele)
External links
- Rimini Protokoll website parts in English
- on Call Cutta
- good documentary on „Call Cutta“ Goethe Institut
- New Paths in German Theatre Florian Malzacher, Goethe Institut 2005
- 50 VIP Directors of Germany Portrait: Rimini Protokoll by Peter Michalzyk, published by Goethe Institut
- The Guardian: "collective puts Marx' Das Kapital on stage" The Guardian review "Karl Marx: Das Kapital, Vol.1", Nov. 2006
- "Best Before – Rimini Protokoll Stages a Multi-Player Game in Vancouver" Imanuel Schipper, Goethe Institut 2010
- "Some Musing on Iterations and Encounters- Re: Call Cutta(s) Tina Bastajian, Artnodes Issue 8, "Locative Media and Artistic Practice: Explorations on the Ground" online node published by UOC 2008