Vampires struggle with eternity and loneliness. Human beings struggle with each other and with the fact that things are not forever. Everyone struggles with something in the end, and fortunately there are songs that make us feel better about it all. MAYBE FOREVER is the collaborative piece in which choreographers Meg Stuart and Philipp Gehmacher let their artistic worlds bleed into one another. The songs of the Brussels-based singer-songwriter Niko Hafkenscheid, who joins them on stage, invites them to walz to lullabies and into promised lands. But under the velvet surface of a sweet melancholy simmer the unexpressed and the embryonic.
In a set of Janina Audick, reminiscent of concert halls, cinematic theaters, and even crematoria, Stuart and Gehmacher look like tiny figurines in a play that wavers between dreams and wishes, mourning and meeting. The album of MAYBE FOREVER flips through relational snapshots, expressive moods and declarations that speak of the impermanence of life. How do we let the lifespan of things extend beyond their predicted deadlines?
« I try to exercise loss, but that does not necessarily mean that I am able to accept it. »
(Rivane Neuenschwander)
Choreography: Meg Stuart, Philipp Gehmacher
Dramaturgy: Myriam Van Imschoot
Light Design: Jan Maertens
Stage and Costumes Supplier: Janina Audick
Music: Vincent Malstaf, Niko Hafkenscheid
A Damaged Goods / Mumbling Fish production. Co-produced by Kaaitheater (Brussel), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, Ohio), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Berlin). Meg Stuart & Damaged Goods are supported by the Flemish authorities and the Flemish Community Commission. Philipp Gehmacher & Mumbling Fish are supported by the cultural department of the City of Vienna.
