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Ruhe
Supported by The Bacher Trust
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Synopsis
A recital of beautiful Schubert song is brutally interrupted by people who want to talk about their voluntary enlistment in the SS.
Ruhe (Silence) is based on a series of 1960s interviews conducted with Dutch veterans who signed up to serve with the Nazis in 1940. These people don't bitterly regret their choices, but can't quite rid themselves of their past.
A spellbinding theatrical event exploring the dark and light sides of European experience through song, monologues and video. Beauty and brutality, harmony and chaos, an intimate yet shocking performance.
Reviews
‘Beauty and monstrosity can coexist.'
Scattered chairs, each facing in it's own direction. A continent torn apart by war, millions dead and those who survived divided by fear and retribution. Voices in perfect harmony singing from a time before all this; a land of wein und liebe, of wine and love. Theodor Adorno commented that "writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric"- how could aesthetic pleasure ever provide spiritual balm for such agony? And how could a culture that fostered the humanism of Goethe and Schubert be capable of such atrocity?
Josse De Pauw's Ruhe juxtaposes Schubert's charmingly naïve part-songs with historical monologues of Dutch Nazi collaborators. Performed in the intimate space of The Hub, Collegium Vocale Gent take their place among the audience and stand on their chairs to sing. There is no escaping the innocent beauty of their music, nor the uncomfortable honesty and awkward humour of the monologues. As a piece of theatre, this neither preaches nor patronizes, but by means of subtle insinuation asks probing questions about the relationship between art and society. Does the retreat into aesthetic transcendence blind us to brutal reality? Or is it the role of art to repair a broken society?
Ruhe is an innovative piece of theatre that forces the viewer to find their own connections between the brutal and the beautiful.
‘one of the most original, haunting and troubling productions I have encountered in 20 years of Edinburgh Festival visits'
Supported by The Bacher Trust
Photo: Herman Sorgeloos
Performance Details
Muziektheater Transparant
Collegium Vocale Gent
Performed in English and German
Josse De Pauw Concept and direction
Cast: Dirk Roofthooft, Carly Wijs and Collegium Vocale Gent.
Booking Information
Performance Dates:
- Thu 21 Aug - 8:00 pm
- Fri 22 Aug - 8:00 pm
- Sat 23 Aug - 8:00 pm
- Sun 24 Aug - 8:00 pm
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- £17Tickets:
- Approx 1 hour 15 minutesDuration:
- The HubVenue:
