WHAT LIES BESIDE THE HATE

Hannah Arendt described the human heart as a “place of darkness”, an unseen and untouchable space (not only from others but also for ourselves) where negative feelings like anger, envy or hatred emerge but also joy, happiness and love. All those emotions necessarily remain “in the dark'', as unknown, covered by layers of habit. Together with Arendt's thoughts we want to give space to the personal, the intimate, the unheard, the unknown and the opaque, the in between - between human/non-human/object.

“What lies beside the hate” therefore invites the audience to take a seat within our very own “place of darkness”.

The performance started as a research project asking a very simple but far reaching question: “What is our personal relationship to hate?”. Working with “hated” objects and their associated stories the performance began to explore the specific connection between the personal dimension of hate, anger and fear and their anonymous, impersonal counterparts. The final performance imagines a space for unheard stories we found along our path, for our very own uncovered hateful moments and also for objects and associations yet to be found together with the audience.

“What lies beside the hate” asks: How can we communicate about something so intangible on a social level? Are there possibilities and necessities to deal creatively with your very own personal feelings of hate? How does the increasing presence of “hate speech” but also digital forms of hate (trolls, shitstorms, cyber mobbing) influence our living together within an european society? Are there links between personal and depersonalized hatred? Can the attempt to “re-personalize” it be understood as a political gesture?

Research & Performance: Carolina Arandia, Laura Brechmann, Maria Huber.
Stage & Costume design: Rosa Wallbrecher
Dramaturgical Consultation: Lea König

About collective:

A transnational feminist collective working on the borders between object theatre, devised performance and choreography. Their common interest of Devising Performances and Object Studies brought us to Prague in 2017, where they met and started developing their works until today. Posing questions to objects, working discursively and creatively with and through them, became their most important tool to explore possible answers to sociological, philosophical and emotional current issues. Their performances search to create an intimate experience, and leave a trace on the sensorial path of every audience member.

Collective’s works have been shown during several international theatre festivals and within many different Czech and German performance institutions. They’re currently funded by the Czech German Future Fond on the base of  collaboration with both “Prostor39” in Prague and “Westflügel” in Leipzig.