Club Gewalt exists 10 years, but the theater collective does not celebrate its anniversary with a timid circle birthday. On the contrary: the company zooms in on an argument. What exactly happened remains unclear, but the collision revolved around racism. As one of the actors notes with surprise: that theme apparently played a role in their collective, even though they are all well-educated, left-wing theater makers.
Performer Amir Vahidi is disappointed in his friends. During a visit to Berlin, one of them treated him racially. Vahidi entered the discussion; the others were silent and “silence is the language of the oppressor.” On the floor we see documentary-like images, fragments of an aftertalk about the argument.
What follows is a brutal performance about privilege and institutional racism, directed by Khadija El Kharraz Alami. The birthday party hands out plenty of congratulations to the audience, who are sitting in stands around the playing field: “Congratulations that you can see this.” “Congratulations on being able to vote,” and “Congratulations on having a constitution that protects you.” You’re lucky, those wishes seem to say: realize that not everyone is so privileged.
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Confronting questions
You are constantly confronted with your place in society and your position in relation to others. This happens most emphatically when you have to respond to statements by standing up or, conversely, by remaining seated. Sometimes they are simple (yet confrontational) questions like “Was there enough money at home before?” But it is also about a broader perspective. For example, do you resemble your colleagues?
These reflective moments are embedded in an overwhelming performance with hypnotic-stimulating compositions by Vahidi and Robbert Klein. Impressive is, among other things, a song about the discomfort surrounding discrimination. ‘I feel strange’, the players repeat, ‘I feel uncomfortable’. Beats vibrate through space, stroboscopes flash and voices continue to boom rhythmically. It seems like a ritual, in which something is banned.
10 Year Anniversary disrupts. The performers go around with a microphone and squeeze through the spectators. “Stand up if you think racism is a white people’s problem,” he said. And then: “Stand up, if you have the role of racist.” Part of the audience gets out of their chairs in doubt. The performance expresses anger, but it remains respectful and light at times. As a spectator you are sucked in and made to think. So that you don’t shut up at the next circle birthday, when that one uncle shouts something racist again.
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