Author: Johannes Birlinger

Madhouse. Helsinki. 2020.

This performance-essay about parks was conceived by Venla Helenius and Milka Luhtaniemi. The sound design consisted of a 8.1 surround arrangement, the base being recordings of spoken word, both in Finnish and English. Additionally, I worked with live loops of Livia Schweizer’s flute playing. The material for the composed parts of the sound design also consists mainly of sampled flute sounds. We were happy to use Tatu Nenonen’s self-built subwoofer (which also served as part of the set design with a summer-meadow growing on top of it).

CREDITS
Concept, texts, performing, spatial design: Venla Helenius and Milka Luhtaniemi
Lighting design and spatial design: Sofia Palillo
Sound design and composition: Johannes Birlinger
Flutist and improvisation: Livia Schweizer
Voice over: Aino Lintunen
English translation: Eve Lahikainen

Staatstheater Mainz. By Hannah Biedermann & Ensemble. 2020.

In this research-based performance about questions of personal future, professions, identity, I worked with 4 tape recorders on stage. The sound design was the result of a meticulous choreography of playing back different tapes by the performers. On the tapes were pieces of music relevant to themselves but also edits of interviews with children and other experts as well as composed sound design and music by myself.

Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. By Hannah Biedermann & Ensemble. 2019.

Jeder Mensch hat eine Familie, ob er will oder nicht. Vater, Mutter, Kind. Das ist ein Ideal, das sich über Jahrhunderte hinweg standhaft gehalten hat. Eine Glücksvorstellung. Sich für oder gegen eine Familie zu entscheiden, ist manchmal nicht ganz einfach. Besonders wenn man nicht in das vorgesehene – vermeintlich »normale« – Modell passt. Und während alleinerziehende, getrennt lebende oder gleichgeschlechtliche Eltern schon skeptisch beäugt werden, werden Menschen mit Behinderung erst gar nicht gefragt. Ihre Vorstellungen von Beziehung und Partnerschaft, ihre Sehnsüchte und Bedürfnisse gehen unter in unserer auf ein Normalitätsideal ausgerichteten Gesellschaft. Was ist mit denen, die der Möglichkeit, eine Familie zu gründen, von vornherein beraubt sind? Die für unmündig und unfähig erklärt werden? Welchen Anspruch auf Glück haben sie, wenn ihnen das Glücksversprechen Familie verwehrt wird? Auf der Bühne treffen sich junge Menschen zwischen 17 und 30 Jahren mit unterschiedlichen Behinderungen, bei deren Lebensplanung alle anderen gerne mitreden, aber selten mithelfen. Sie erzählen vom Leben, von wichtigen Entscheidungen und Hindernissen, die wir alle kennen. Sie dekonstruieren Glücksversprechen, entlarven kollektive Normen und stellen gesellschaftliche Verantwortung auf die Probe.

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Every person has a family, whether they want one or not. Father, mother, child. This is an ideal that has remained steadfast for centuries. An idea of happiness. Deciding for or against a family is sometimes not that easy. Especially if you don’t fit into the prescribed – supposedly ‘normal’ – model. And while single parents, separated parents or same-sex parents are already viewed with scepticism, people with disabilities are not even asked. Their ideas about relationships and partnership, their desires and needs are lost in our society, which is geared towards an ideal of normality. What about those who are deprived of the opportunity to start a family from the outset? Those who are declared incompetent and incapable? What right to happiness do they have if they are denied the promise of happiness that a family offers? On stage, young people between the ages of 17 and 30 with different disabilities meet – people in whose life plans everyone else likes to have a say, but rarely helps with. They talk about life, about important decisions and obstacles that we all know. They deconstruct promises of happiness, expose collective norms and put social responsibility to the test.

Credits:
Concept, research, development: Working Group
Direction: Hannah Biedermann
Stage and Costume design: Ramona Rauchbach
Sound design and music: Johannes Birlinger
Dramatugy: Juliane Hendes
Lighting Design: Manuel Migdalek
Performers: Albert Forrer, Lorelei Holtmann, Paloma Olszowka, Isabell Rosenberg, Benjamin Stevenson

Training Theater Helsinki. Directed by Tuomas Rinta-Panttila. 2018.

Ballhaus Ost Berlin. Kompanie Kopfstand. 2016.

An interactive performance about money, being rich, being poor, injustice and fun. Created by Kompanie Kopfstand, based on extensive research including three workshops with young people.

Grips Theater Berlin. By Hannah Biedermann & Ensemble. 2015.

A piece for young audiences about garbage, its origins, disposal, recycling and other trash stories. Based on real life research.

Theater Vorpommern/ Performdance. Putbus/Stralsund. 2015.

“Atlantis” was a performance with kids aged 10-12 from the island of Rügen, Germany. We followed the myth of the sunken city of Atlantis and interwove it with the young dancers’ images and experiences of their own island home.