Melanie Jame Wolf: Finite Jest – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin

Melanie Jame Wolf: Finite Jest

A person stands with their back to the audience in a spotlight, wearing a jester costume with a two-toned cap, red gloves, and hanging ribbons.
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Finite Jest is an anatomy of The Joke. The Joke is that everybody dies. The question is: can we laugh about that together in a theater? In this new solo performance about comedy, tragedy and death, choreographer, performer and artist Melanie Jame Wolf’s suspicion is that we need to.

Finite Jest departs from Wolf’s own encounters with death and (nearly) dying through her experience with breast cancer treatment, the death of friends, the grief-feed scrolling on her phone screen, and raising a 5-year-old child who asks: “What happens when we die?”

In stand-up, when a joke fails, the comedian is said to have died on stage; stand up, drop dead. Finite Jest is interested in the edges of where The Joke dies. And in what ways can we work with humour as the absurd, weird thing that makes the fact of death – and the inevitability of grief – occasionally bearable? 

Melanie Jame Wolf invokes archetypal images – from Shakespeare, to the figure of the jester, to stand up comedy – in order to question social scripts for how we grieve, how we think about dying, and how morality is produced around these topics.

The piece departs from her 2024 essay for DELFI titled The Mean Well.

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The performance explicitly addresses (fatal) illness, death, and grief.

Duration

  • Approx. 75 minutes, no intermission

Language

  • English spoken language
  • Heavily text-based

Lighting

  • Alternating between bright and dark lighting
  • Very dark moments
  • One moment of complete and sudden darkness

Sound

  • Some sections feature electric guitar and vocals

Other

  • Stage fog is used

Audience

  • Seated grandstand
  • Two beanbag seats bookable according to availability
    Two wheelchair spaces bookable according to availability

Early boarding

  • There will be a long admission.

Tickets

  • Reservations can be made via the ticket telephone at 030 283 52 66, Monday to Friday from 4pm-6pm
  • Via the online ticket shop
  • At the box office

You can also find more information about accessibility at the house here.

Concept, text, set, sound, costume design: Melanie Jame Wolf
Performance: Melanie Jame Wolf
Light design, outside eye: Agnė Auželytė
Dramaturgy: Louise Trueheart

A production by Melanie Jame Wolf / Savage Amusement in coproduction with Sophiensæle. Kindly supported by Schwankhalle Bremen and with co-production in residency from O Espaço do Tempo. Media partners: Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.

Melanie Jame Wolf makes artworks, performances, and texts about power, persona, and the phenomenon of “show business”: the persuasive, the deceptive, the staged, and the performed in political, theatrical, and everyday contexts. Her work explores the vulnerability of the live moment and the body as an unruly political riddle. These interests are explored through shape-shifting and play with language in surprising and humorous ways.

Spaces that have presented her work include Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Kunstmuseum Basel – Gegenwart, KW – Institute of Contemporary Art, HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, nGbK, Schirn Kunsthalle, The National 2019: New Australian Art biennial, VAEFF - Film Festival NYC, Arts Santa Monica, Schwules Museum, Sophiensæle, Münchner Kammerspiele, Arts House Melbourne, Kasseler Dokfest, KINDL, Bärenwzinger Berlin, SOPHIE TAPPEINER and Institute of Modern Art Brisbane.

  • A person faces the audience, holding a white skull in their right hand. Their left hand is open and directed forward.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person in a jester costume stands in a beam of light, raising one hand above their eyes as if looking into the distance. The background remains dark.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person lies on their side on the stage floor in colored light, supporting themselves on one arm. Large red and green fabric panels hang behind them.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person sings into a microphone while playing an electric guitar. Bright stage lights are visible above, and a banana peel lies on the floor in front of them.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • From a gap between two curtains, a hand in a red glove emerges holding a white skull; in the other hand is a microphone.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person stands on stage eating a banana. Two large fabric panels with diamond patterns hang in the background.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person stands sideways on stage, holding a white skull at shoulder height while placing the other hand on their torso.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person lies partly hidden behind a yellow fabric panel on the floor. An electric guitar and a microphone stand lie nearby.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person stands under bright stage lights with an electric guitar at a microphone, playing. A banana peel lies on the floor.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person moves across the stage with arms outstretched, stepping close to a banana peel on the floor.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person kneels in a warm spotlight on a stage, holding a white skull in their arms. Large fabric panels in red and yellow with diamond patterns hang in the background.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person stands on stage in front of a red backdrop, holding a white skull in their right hand while their left hand is raised in a gesture.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person with short dark hair stands between mirrored panels, looking upward toward the camera. They wear a loose dark blue garment with very long sleeves resting on the floor, black legwear, and black ankle boots. The mirrors multiply the body and space.
    © Peter Rosemann