100% Berlin reloaded

By Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel

Flashback: 01.02.2008 – before the all enclosing spread of social media, before the coining of the term “post migrant theatre” and before the loss of trust in the truth because of “fake news”. A man steps on the stage of the HAU1. He is a statistician. Once, years before he had already knocked on the stage door of the theatre while conducting a census, trying to find out whether there was a custodian-flat in the building – including a custodian-family which could be counted.

Now he was standing on the stage, welcoming the audience and familiarising them with the rules of the evening: the population of the city of Berlin is being represented by 100 people. In order to do this, 5 categories had been chosen from the population census: age, gender, district of residence, civil status, nationality. The statistician is the first of a total of 100 people, who, in the following minutes, will move to the microphone on a now slowly rotating stage, to introduce themselves as part of a chain reaction.

The 100thBerliner was a newly born baby – just a few days old.

In a playful manner this sampling of the city answered questions. In always new constellations they gave their faces to the statistical numbers. Groups appeared who had kids, who wanted kids, who were looking for work, who were in dept, who let their money work for them, who owned weapons and who had fled from armed conflicts, those who had been in prison and those who were for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

A city painted a picture of itself: of its complexity and heterogeneity, across the deep trenches which divided the individual person and the groups. Back then, Berlin seemed cheaper than other cities, a lot of the cast members had spent most of their lives in the GDR. Tempelhof airport had just recently been closed and the opening of the new airport BER seemed to be just around the corner.

12 years have since passed – time for a revision at the place of origin – for the theatrical and social adventure of a reunion and a revisualisation, a new appraisal: What if, once again, we bring 100 statistically chosen Berliners to the stage, in order to understand how the city has changed since back then?

In what way have the majorities shifted, profiles changed, perspectives been broken?

How did the statistical and demographical data of the city change? Which district shrank, where do we have more inhabitants than before, immigrated from where? Which new professions have been added, how did the economy grow in private households? Where do we find sorrow? Extrusion, privatisation, new development holdups and fear of growth, upload filter, the danger of terror, thick diesel fumes, tourist hype, a fear of the future…

The newborn from back then is a teenager now. How does this young person view the city he lives in and where he will soon be allowed to vote…? And what has become of the statistician?

Concept, Text, Direction: Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel
Stage: Mascha Mazur / Marc Jungreithmeier
Research + Dramaturgy: Cornelius Puschke
Live music: Di Grine Kuzine
Assistant director: Lisa Homburger
Production management: Juliane Männel

A production by Rimini Apparat in co-production with HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

Commemorating a rapidly changing city and the 20thanniversary of Rimini Protokoll.

Dates

Berlin, HAU Hebbel am Ufer (im Rahmen von "JETZT feiern – 20 Jahre Rimini Protokoll")

09. – 12.01.2020

Beijing, Screening @Luminous Festival

05.09.2021

Current dates / All dates

Documentation

100% Berlin reloaded (engl. subtitles)

100% Berlin reloaded

Other Languages

Familienalbum einer Stadt
Michael Wolf
13.01.2020 / www.neues-deutschland.de

So spannend und sympathisch kann Statistik sein
Ute Büsing
10.01.2020 / www.rbb24.de

100% Berlin reloaded: Rimini Protokoll erforscht die Stadt
Ulrike Borowczyk
10.01.2020 / www.morgenpost.de

Diese 100 Menschen repräsentieren ganz Berlin
Verena Mayer
10.01.2020 / www.tagesspiegel.de

+ More