World Premiere: May 20th, 2021, Kampnagel Hamburg (Stream)
For many years now, Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft’s pieces have been drawing from questions that are shared and discussed with other artists and rehearsal guests of every age. After such questions as “what aren’t you asked often enough?” and “what do you get up for?”, Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft is now collecting answers to: “what do you need others for?”.
It started with the interest in asking whom the stage belongs to, who makes it there, how you share it, what you address there together. What was planned? Many others were supposed to be there to share space, time and interests.
The thing with many people in one place has become more and more superfluous in the last few months, and it remains so still. Three are left: they share the stage, as well as a walk-in object – they call it a house. They reorient themselves there and change the terminology: in reference to theater, in relation to themselves as a “we”, in terms of what they are doing, of the audience. For example, “We Call it a House” just has one audience member – they call it camera. The three of them say what they do in the house is not a film, but they call it a film because it isn’t piece.
What they do is stand opposite one another: who am I in the context of the others and what do they say about it? They experiment with one another and have plenty of time, because up until now no one has asked them to come back out – and as long as that is the case, they will continue to deal with the things as a threesome that they will debate with many others later. The question doesn’t go out of style; it is posed daily. Now more than ever.
Idea & concept: Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft
Choreography: Antje Pfundtner
Dance: Juliana Oliveira, Antje Pfundtner, Matthew Rogers
Dramaturgy: Anne Kersting
Music & sound: Nikolaus Woernle
Stage: Irene Pätzug
Costumes: Yvonne Marcour
Lighting: Michael Lentner
Production, PR and marketing: Hannah Melder
Distribution: Jana Lüthje
Assistant: Vivienne Lütteken
Video: Mathias Hollaender
Technical support: Lars Vaupel, Karsten Witte
Guests: Stanley Dennis Robert Ebhodaghe, Mark Christoph Klee, Ilske Thomsen, Dr. Babette Tondorf
With many thanks to Heather Christle for the friendly permission to recite her poem “Then We Are in Agreement” and to Felizitas Stilleke for her dramaturgical feedback.
“We Call it a House” is a production by Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft in coproduction with Kampnagel Hamburg and FFT Düsseldorf. “We Call it a House” is funded by TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund with the support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur und Medien. Supported by the Probebühne im Gängeviertel.
Photos
Photos: Simone Scardovelli
Press
“It’s the innumerable, carefully considered details that make this piece a gem in these distanced times. It imparts intimacy and understanding. It underlines how important meetings are, contacts, togetherness, hand in hand. It demonstrates that much that we thought was lost is still possible. It also demonstrates that this film, as brilliant as it was shot, is just a substitute in an era that has forced us to go without contact. May it soon be possible to see and experience this piece live on stage.” Annette Bopp, tanznetz.de
“An artist needs an audience; people need other beings. Pfundtner finds original images for this. She and Oliveira present a duet in such a close embrace that this unfamiliar intimacy is touching. No movement seems strained, each develops organically from one surprising movement to the next. We know: we need others. But it’s still beautiful to have this be substantiated again in such an emphatic dance piece.” Annette Stiekele, Hamburger Abendblatt
Video
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Mehr erfahren
As long as theatres are not completely reopened, our film “We Call it a House” can be watched here. If we will transform it into a stage piece later, time will tell …