Chinchilla Arsehole, eyey

By Helgard Haug

“No intension, it’s just Tourette”, is what Christian Hempel is quick to clarify from the onset, when he’s among people. He cannot control his rants, insults and motor tics. They are reactions to the world around him. The Tourette syndrome seeks attention. It craves confrontation and commotion. At first glance, it would seem impossible to create a theatre piece with Tourette: no text is safe; no movement can be repeated. Stage equipment has to be secured, special hotel rooms booked. In Rimini Protokoll’s new production, Christian Hempel steps onto the stage for the first time, together with musician and geriatric nurse Benjamin Jürgens and politician Bijan Kaffenberger. They also have Tourette. Collectively with musician Barbara Morgenstern, they put theatre to the test: to what degree can theatre tolerate an absence of intent? How much protection can theatre offer? And after the applause is over, it may become clear that this piece isn’t really about Tourette. It is actually about the audience, about theatre and about the fear of losing control.

Concept, text & direction: Helgard Haug
With: Christian Hempel, Benjamin Jürgens, Bijan Kaffenberger, Barbara Morgenstern, Stefan Schliephake and Sven Lüders
Composition & Music: Barbara Morgenstern
Stage: Mascha Mazur
Video: Marc Jungreithmeier

Light design: Johannes Richter

Dramaturgy: Cornelius Puschke

Dramaturgy Künstlerhaus Mousonturm: Anna Wagner

Sound engineering: Thorsten Löchl
Research & Artistic cooperation: Meret Kiderlen

Light design adaption Berlin: Sebastian Zamponi
Production management Künstlerhaus Mousonturm: Olivia Ebert

Assistance video: Lukas Lenfert
Production management Rimini Protokoll / Touring: Juliane Männel, Renée Merkel
Assistant Christian Hempel: Stefan Schliephake

Technical management & Light design (Touring): Patrick Tucholski

Sound design (Touring): Torsten Schwarzbach
Direction assistant (Touring): Desislava Tsoneva, Linn Günther, Meret Kiderlen

A production by Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Schauspiel Frankfurt and Rimini Apparat. In co-production with Westdeutscher Rundfunk and HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin.Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses, by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain in the frame of “Erzählung.Macht.Identität” and by Adolf and Luisa Haeuser-Foundation for Art and Cultural Heritage in the frame of the series UNLIMITED II.

Performing rights: schaefersphilippen Theater and Medien GbR
music rights: Barbara Morgenstern © Maobeat Musikverlag/Budde Music Publishing GmbH“

Invited to:

The guest performance at Volkstheater Wien and Theaterfestival Basel is supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe of the State of Berlin.