Two unequal twins – one lives, the other dies. A play as panopticon, as Russian doll or as funfair ride perpetually in motion. Die Zwillinge (AT) (The Twins) by Lamin Leroy Gibba investigates questions of surveillance, perception, deception and control, as well as the arbitrariness, violence and absurdity of mechanisms of oppression. At the tension-rife intersection between pop cultural knowledge, postcolonial theories and queer-feminist analysis, this play deciphers the mechanisms of a system which cements its power through invisibility. A system which asserts truths, produces attributions and organises voices hierarchically.
Die Zwillinge (AT) interlaces realism with abstraction, employs alienation for more precision and investigates deep cracks in seemingly stable structures. The characters are trapped in the whirr of truth and fiction, groping between seeing, speaking and surveillance in search of self-perception which isn’t constantly slipping. What if lies and truths are not opposites but tools? What if time isn’t moving forward, but returning instead?
After working on 1000 Serpentinen Angst, Joana Tischkau now returns to the Maxim Gorki Theatre to make her directing debut at Studio with Lamin Leroy Gibba in one of the leading roles.
