Residencies

• 09.03 > 14.03.2026

When a clown moves into a palace,

He does not beco­me a sul­tan.

No, the pala­ce turns into a cir­cus.

(Turkish pro­verb)

Welcome to a bac­cha­nal of fren­zied opu­len­ce and sim­me­ring fear. In an armed bun­ker — both pala­ce and amu­se­ment park — two eccen­tric, reclu­si­ve figu­res pre­pa­re for a final feast on the eve of revo­lu­ti­on. Outside, the crowd pounds on the walls; insi­de, the wine flows freely. Everything is in moti­on, nothing stands still. The music is still playing, but bene­ath the beat, the ground is alrea­dy shif­ting.

Theater maker Lieselot Siddiki cre­a­tes a sen­so­ry per­for­man­ce about heirs of abun­dan­ce and mistrust who are stuck in a twi­sted pre­sent. Are they des­pots of a dying order or lost souls in dis­il­lu­si­on­ment? Fear is their dri­ving for­ce: fear of con­ta­mi­na­ti­on, of noi­se, of loss of hier­ar­chy, of the world out­si­de. And fear breeds vio­len­ce.

They devour copi­ous amounts, insa­ti­a­ble like Gargantua. Hunger and thirst beco­me ritu­als. They dress up, play ruler and vic­tim, repeat his­to­ry until it beco­mes rea­li­ty. They are repul­si­ve and seduc­ti­ve at the same time. Between the stea­ming dis­hes, sona­tas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart resound: clear, play­ful, almost child­li­ke. The music charms and soot­hes, but bene­ath the ele­gant struc­tu­res, unrest fes­ters. Harmony is guar­ded con­vul­si­ve­ly whi­le dis­so­nan­ce is alrea­dy making itself felt.

SCHWEINEREI func­ti­ons like a car­ni­val: a tem­po­ra­ry sus­pen­si­on of order and rank. An exu­be­rant cos­tu­me par­ty in which power rela­ti­ons are over­tur­ned, and mas­ks beco­me per­ma­nent­ly atta­ched to faces. Paradise turns out to be a gil­ded cage, care­ful­ly sta­ged. Paranoia bub­bles bene­ath wigs and por­ce­lain.

The text is writ­ten by Barbi Marković, known for her sharp, play­ful, and dis­rup­ti­ve sty­le. With ruthless pre­ci­si­on, she dis­sects the myth of power, swit­ching bet­ween iro­ny and mena­ce, and expo­sing the cracks behind shi­ny faça­des.

SCHWEINEREI is a per­for­man­ce about the end of a world order — and what comes after. A mir­ror for our times, in which deca­den­ce and revo­lu­ti­on embra­ce each other. For what hap­pens when excess beco­mes uncon­trol­la­ble? When para­di­se turns out to be rot­ten insi­de? History tea­ches us that whe­re deca­den­ce flou­ris­hes, revo­lu­ti­on is knoc­king at the door.