Musiktheaterkollektiv Hauen & Stechen: Ignorance is Bliss – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin
Musiktheaterkollektiv Hauen & Stechen:
Ignorance is Bliss
A dystopian comedy of errors that does not believe in historical progress: a failed experiment opens a time portal in Sophiensæle and thoroughly upends the order of things. Ignorance is Bliss is an opera parcours in complete cluelessness, full of the pitfalls of knowledge and the temptations of ignorance. What can we know, and what would we rather never have learned?
The scenario: Berlin’s theaters fall victim to the Senate’s budget cuts and are transformed into luxurious condominiums. In the Sophiensæle Festsaal, real estate agents and interior designers bustle about, extolling the virtues of exclusive rooms where Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht once spoke. Only one resists: a scientist whose life’s work – a time machine – is threatened by this sellout, and who refuses to leave. During the eviction, a struggle ensues, accidentally activating the machine and opening a time portal.
With Ignorance is Bliss, Hauen & Stechen travel back in time: a historical dictator and his entourage wreak havoc in Berlin-Mitte, while the theater’s janitor is taking up the usurper’s throne in past times. The incoherences of the present and the secrets of the past soon blow up in everyone’s faces.
In this music-theater comedy, the longing for knowledge collides with alternative forms of knowing and the thin line between knowledge and power. Hauen & Stechen defy propaganda and dig their way through escapist dreams and anachronistic fantasies.
The information on accessibility is still in progress and will be updated as soon as possible. If any questions remain unanswered until then, please feel free to contact the communication department at barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35. Please note that details may change by the day of the event. Therefore, if you find out after you have purchased your ticket that the performance is no longer accessible to you, you can contact us for a ticket return at ticketing@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 45 until 5 business days after the event (Monday through Friday between 10am and 6pm).
Duration
- Approximately 180 minutes including intermission.
Language
- English and German spoken language. Little french spoken language.
- Song lyrics in English, German, French and Italian.
Lighting
- Strobe lighting is used.
- There are rapid lighting changes.
Sound
- It will be very loud. Earplugs are available.
- Live band and live singing.
- Very loud techno music at the end of the show.
Other
- The event begins in the Festsaalfoyer. The audience will be divided up. Parts of the audience will be standing at times. Please contact the evening staff if you have limited mobility.
Audience
- Seated grandstand.
- Two wheelchair spaces can be booked subject to availability.
- The audience will be divided and will move around and standing at the room at times. Please contact the evening staff if you have limited mobility.
Interaction
- There will be voluntary moments of interaction.
Early boarding
There is the possibility of Early boarding. A loudspeaker annoucement will draw attention to this.
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.
By: Musiktheaterkollektiv Hauen & Stechen and Ensemble Trisolde
Director: Julia Lwowski
Stage design: Yassu Yabara
Costumes: Christina Schmitt
Dramaturgy: Maria Buzhor
Video: Martin Mallon
Lighting: Konrad Dietze
Sound: Angelo Fonfara
Vocals, performance: Angela Braun, Thorbjörn Björnsson, Gina Lisa Maiwald, David Ristau, Peter Pankow, Julia Lwowski, Maria Buzhor, Johann Ebert
Musical direction, piano, accordion: Roman Lemberg
Electronics, trombone, percussion: Vasily Ratmansky
Artistic production manager: Jasna Witkoski
Assistant director: Johann Ebert, Konstantin Züllich
Assistant set designer: Theresa Heiss
Assistant costume designer: Leah Frey
Assistant video designer: Reilly Crouse
Agogic support: Wolfgang Ullrich
Intern: Lea Bandini
Trailer: Greta Markurt
Design: Michael Seibert
Thanks to: Theater Thikwa, Nikolai Frank
A production by Musiktheaterkollektiv Hauen & Stechen in co-production with Sophiensæle. Funded by the Capital Cultural Fund (HKF) and the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. With the kind support of Theater Thikwa. Media partners: Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
Hauen & Stechen was founded as a laboratory for moving, cross-border, and cross-genre musical theater. It initially worked in the cellars of Galerina Steiner, where the collective attracted attention with a special series of performances: a staging course was performed for different groups on one evening until they were completely exhausted. Here it developed its style, which blends influences from opera, visual arts and film with performative elements to create an idiosyncratic and opulent theatrical language. The pieces deliberately leave space for impulses and interaction with the audience and take place in an intensely intimate setting.
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Credit: Michael Seibert -
© Thilo Mössner -
© Thilo Mössner -
© Thilo Mössner -
© Thilo Mössner -
© Thilo Mössner -
Credit: Michael Seibert