DIE MITTELMEER-MONOLOGE

Documentary theater by Michael Ruf - surtitles in Arabic, English and French

About people who take the risky route across the Mediterranean in the hope of finding safety in Europe.

The Mediterranean Monologues are documentary theater. Author Michael Ruf(Wort und Herzschlag) conducts interviews that last several hours, sometimes several days. These interviews are then simply shortened and condensed. Nothing is invented and the linguistic expression is retained. Verbatim, literal theater. Inspired by these interviews, Michael Ruf also wrote song lyrics, which were then translated into music in collaboration with composers. This resulted in "Tons of Water" (composition: Marlène Colle), "We fall into silence" (composition: Torsten Knoll) and "The Memories always return" (composition: Peer Kleinschmidt). These songs have been an integral part of the Mediterranean Monologues since December 2021.

The Mediterranean Monologues tell of people who take the risky route across the Mediterranean in the hope of being able to live in safety in Europe - of Libyan coastguards, Italian sea rescue services and German authorities who prevent this and of activists who do something to stop people dying in the Mediterranean. As volunteers on the Alarmphone, these activists convince the coastguards to rescue people in distress at sea or learn how to save people from drowning on the Seawatch - in short, they do what is actually the most natural thing in the world, but which is anything but natural in 2022: saving human lives!

It is as if the actors directly address the people in the audience, reach out to them and draw them into a world that will not leave the audience cold from now on: entangled, intertwined, connected and networked with the protagonists of the Mediterranean monologues, the audience eagerly follows the paths of the stories told. When the actors whisper, remain silent, cautiously throw a word into the room, then occasionally become louder, raise their voices demanding or angrily, once even almost shouting, the sounds do not reach the audience in an abstract way, then the audience is struck and touched directly and in all their physicality by what is said. When the actress looks at the audience, they are included in the event, which they know and believe took place in reality.

Each performance is followed by an audience discussion with activists