Änet em Bärg: Far Side

Installation. Masks. Only one person in the room at a time.

During the recent pandemic we have all got used to encounters mainly happening within the virtual - deprived of intimacy and community. The fundamental need of affiliation with the world through closeness with others has been reduced, hence the feeling of lack render an alerting aspect of everyday life. But when looking closely, is there not a level of solitude also in times when we can meet and touch each other as much as we like? Perhaps the isolation put upon us during the lock downs is nothing but a maximization of the unescapable human condition; loneliness. 

«Far Side» is a one-to-one piece of theatre that explores meetings between distant strangers, through imagination. An encounter in the flesh is an affair filled with written and unwritten laws of do’s and dont’s, in the imaginary however that contract is ripped apart. In my imagination of you, I can do or be exposed to anything, and get away with it. «Far Side» takes this freedom as its fuel and opens a plain that balances on the thin line between intimacy and transgression.

The one-to-one format might sound like an interactive nightmare, but when entering «Far Side» there is no outer gaze falling upon you, no one will see or hear you, nobody will judge your behavior, you are safe. In this piece the audience member is a mere projection screen for imagination and free to fully project back without consequences. 

Sandra Forrer works as a playwright, director and dramaturg. She studied theatre studies, German literature and philosophy at the University of Bern. Since 2004 she has been producing contemporary theatre primarily with her company HEINIGER / FORRER production, at wildwuchs Festival in Basel or Belluard Bollwerk International Festival in Fribourg among others. Most recently, in 2019, she realised the installation performance «Widde-widde-wie es uns gefällt» in coproduction with Schlachthaus Theater Bern and wildwuchs Festival Basel. Her next premiere is expected in February 2022 at Schlachthaus Theater. Forrer's works are characterized by a strong interweaving of the (often site-specific) form with the content. Her work has been set in huts in the forest, the cafeteria of a psychiatric clinic or the mortuary of a crematorium.
www.sandraforrer.ch

The theatremaker and actor Iggy Malmborg lives and works in Malmö. After training in classical acting, he now dedicates himself to a wide range of forms and aesthetics in his own and collaborative work. By using strategies that can be compared to minimalism, he sheds light on the politics of theatre and read it as a hierarchical machine with (unconscious) patterns of inclusion and exclusion. He has already been to auawirleben with his solo production «b o n e r», as well as with «99 Words for Void» and «# 6 - Queer Sells» (in the duo White on White) as a guest.

About the project «Änet em Bärg»

With the pandemic, theatremakers currently not only lack the opportunity to perform, but also the opportunity to build networks and embark on new collaborative adventures. With the project «Änet em Bärg» (beyond the mountain), we’re trying to facilitate this nevertheless. We made a call-out to Bernese theatre and dance professionals are interested in participating in an international collaboration project. We then connected the two selected artists, Sandra Forrer and Marie Popall, with two international artists, Iggy Malmborg from Malmö and Francesca Lazzeri from Amsterdam. The aim of the two pairings is to develop a project together without travelling for the rehearsals or the performance. Both teams have every freedom in terms of form and content.