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Sophiensæle 23/24

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The programme 23/24 of Sophiensæle starts on 07.12.2023

On 7.12.2023, after urgently needed renovation work, the 2023/2024 season will begin at the Sophiensaele under the new artistic direction of Andrea Niederbuchner and Jens Hillje. We will publish the programme for the opening and the season on 26.10.2023, which is also the day when the pre-sale begins.

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TANZTAGE BERLIN 2024 | OPEN CALL

Tanztage_2024
© Jan Grygoriew

TO ALL EMERGING DANCE ARTISTS BASED IN BERLIN

Every new year, the Tanztage Berlin is not only the city's very first festival, it has also established itself nationally and internationally as an important platform for emerging dance artists since its founding in 1996. The next edition of Tanztage Berlin will once again take place under the artistic direction of Mateusz Szymanówka. The festival is currently planned for 5-20 January 2024. The festival offers emerging dance artists based in Berlin a framework for their new productions and revivals. The programme of the last two editions can be found at: https://tanztage-berlin.sophiensaele.com.

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Queer Darlings 4 Cade & MacAskill The Making of Pinocchio (Digital)

  • Two performers: Ivor MacAskill (he/him) and Rosana Cade (they/them), interact on a dark stage, illuminated by a flash. Ivor is a white man with short hair and ginger stubble and Rosana is a white non-binary person with short hair.
    © Tiu Makkonen
  • Two performers: Ivor MacAskill (he/him) and Rosana Cade (they/them), are shown in profile from the waist up, facing each other. They wear fake wooden tracksuits and caps with real wooden appendages protruding from them.
    © Tiu Makkonen
  • Rosana and Ivor stand on a stage draped in bright red fabric.   Rosana stands facing us, with a quizzical expression on their face. A wooden appendage protruding from Rosana’s nipple socket connects to Ivor’s arse socket.
    © Tiu Makkonen
Film/Video
April 14 + 15
Tickets
Online auf Dringeblieben
In English with German and English subtitles

This is the digital version of the theater work The Making of Pinocchio. For those who can't or don't want to come to the theater. >> MORE INFO & TICKETS TO THE LIVE VERSION HERE

Online on April 14 + 15. >> GO TO THE VIDEO VERSION

In this hybrid of theatre and film, shot and edited all in one take, you are invited to go behind the scenes of Cade & MacAskill’s creative process and their relationship, and question what it takes to tell your truth. Artists and lovers Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill have been creating The Making of Pinocchio since 2018, alongside and in response to Ivor’s gender transition. In this technically sophisticated live film shoot and with playful humor, they reflect this process and their relationship in it.

The Making of Pinocchio is a true tale of love and transition and a queer re-appropriation of the tale of the lying wooden puppet who wants to be a “real boy”. Constantly shifting between reality and fiction, fairy tale and autobiography, the personal and the political, this “ravishingly beautiful’ (The Arts Desk) show explores the sheer joy and limitless potential of queer imagination.

  • Rosana and Ivor mention different parts of the story of Pinocchio but you do not need to know the story to follow what is happening.
  • Ivor talks a little at the beginning about transphobia but does not tell any specific stories.
  • Ivor performs a dance where he is fully nude at some points, at a distance from the audience. When Ivor is nude audiences will see that he has had top surgery. There is also a short film clip where we see Ivor’s chest before top surgery.
  • Rosana describes a sexual fantasy between Pinocchio and the artistic director of the venue, which plays with the artistic director having power over Pinocchio and seducing him. All of the characters are consenting to being involved in sexual activity and experience pleasure. The nudity and sexual fantasy scenes are performed in a playful way.

You can find more information on working with content notes on the house here.

If any questions remain from the following information, please feel free to contact Hannah Aldinger at barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35. Please note that details may change by the day of the event.

Duration

  • 90 minutes 

Language

  • English spoken language
  • With English and German Subtitles, including descriptions of the sound and music 

Stage

  • The stage will have a large screen, hanging near the front. There will be 2 more visible smaller screens on the stage that the performers use.
  • There will also be a large red drape hanging on the left and going across the floor. 
  • Near the front there will be a drape of material with fake wood printed on it, with 2 directors chairs in front of it.
  • There are lots of props lined up against the back wall and some of these will move to the front of the stage during the show.
  •  There are wooden cameras in the space and some of these will move.

Light

  • One of the moving cameras has a bright light.
  • There is a brief moment of complete darkness at the start and finish of the show.

Sound

  • There is a short section with loud music and a loud blower machine.
  • There is music underneath performers talking but there are captions integrated into the show.

Atmosphere

  • The performance attempts to centre queer joy and pleasure. It is playful and it uses humour. Ivor and Rosana check in with each other throughout the performance.

Content

  • Rosana and Ivor mention different parts of the story of Pinocchio but you do not need to know the story to follow what is happening.
  • Ivor talks a little at the beginning about transphobia but does not tell any specific stories.
  • Ivor performs a dance where he is fully nude at some points, at a distance from the audience. When Ivor is nude audiences will see that he has had top surgery. There is also a short film clip where we see Ivor’s chest before top surgery.
  • Rosana describes a sexual fantasy between Pinocchio and the artistic director of the venue, which plays with the artistic director having power over Pinocchio and seducing him. All of the characters are consenting to being involved in sexual activity and experience pleasure. The nudity and sexual fantasy scenes are performed in a playful way.

Other effects

  • Often there is action happening live on stage, and this is being filmed by a camera from a different angle and projected onto the main screen, so you are watching 2 different perspectives at the same time.

Tickets

CADE & MACASKILL are Rosana Cade (they/them) and Ivor MacAskill (he/him): renowned queer artists and facilitators based in Glasgow, Scotland. Their work, together and individually, straddles the worlds of experimental contemporary theatre, live art, queer cabaret, film, children’s performance, site specific and socially engaged practices.

Their collaboration is born from a shared love of subversive humour, experimentation with persona and text, playful theatricality and the joy they find in improvising together. They also share a passion for LGBTQIA+ rights and culture. They create strange, rich aesthetic worlds on stage, with unique sonic elements embedded into their work, due to ongoing collaboration with sound artist and designer Yas Clarke. They are both experienced facilitators and trained volunteers with LGBT Youth (Glasgow). They are currently in the process of setting up a co-operative to open a new LGBTQIA+ second-hand shop / community space in Glasgow.

By playing the video, I agree to YouTube's privacy policy and thus also to the data transfer from Vimeo to the USA.

The Guardian
Take Me Somewhere review – the wondrous trans tale of Pinocchio by Mark Fisher

“a funny, clever and thoughtful two-hander, rich in playful imagery and direct-to-camera asides”
“The satire is gentle, but the politics are clear.”
“By some margin, The Making of Pinocchio is the highlight of the opening weekend of Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow’s festival of contemporary international performance.”

The Scotsman
Theatre reviews: Edinburgh International Children’s Festival | Hindu Times | Braw Tales by Joyce McMillan

“The Making Of Pinocchio (****) is a clever and absorbing film, full of reflection and self-revelation, powerful visual imagery and movement, and a profound sense of the force of Pinocchio as a story about a central character striving to be what he does not at first seem to be – a “real boy”.”

Exeunt
Review: The Making of Pinocchio at Take Me Somewhere (online) by Ben Kulvichit

“overruns with DIY ingenuity”
“the show is moreishly pleasurable to watch. The duo hold the audience with a brand of mischievous humour that’s provocative and reassuring in equal measure.”
“what I feel invited to see beneath these complex layers of performative irony, allegory and reverie, is the beautifully commonplace reality of a relationship: turning the bedside light off; brushing your teeth together; giving up half your sandwich; two people who love each other dearly.”

No More Workhorse
The Making of Pinocchio: Digital Edition – Live Collision – Review

"It’s an inventive and very original film/ theatre production hybrid."

Created by Rosana Cade & Ivor MacAskill Performed by Rosana Cade, Ivor MacAskill, Jo Hellier & Tim Spooner or Rachel Gammon Set, Prop & Costume Designer Tim Spooner Sound Designer Yas Clarke Cameras Jo Hellier Lighting Designer Jo Palmer Cinematographer Kirstin McMahon and Jo Hellier Produced by Dr. Nora Laraki for Artsadmin Creation produced by Mary Osborn for Artsadmin Production Manager Sorcha Stott-Strzala ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Rachel Gammon Outside Eye Nic Green Movement advisor Eleanor Perry Captioning Collective Text,  Rosana Cade,  Ivor MacAskill, and Jamie Rea SUBTITLE DESIGN Yas Clarke and Daniel Hughes.

A production by Artsadmin. Commissioned by Fierce Festival, Kampnagel, Tramway & Viernulvier with support from Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Battersea Arts Centre, LIFT and Take Me Somewhere. Funded by Creative Scotland, Arts Council England and Rudolf Augstein Stiftung with development support from The Work Room/Diane Torr Bursary, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, National Theatre of Scotland, Live Art Development Agency, Gessnerallee, Mousonturm, Forest Fringe, West Kowloon Cultural District & LGBT Health & Wellbeing Scotland. The guest performance takes place within the festival Queer Darlings #4, funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Rausgegangen, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, tipBerlin, taz.die tageszeitung.