Going to Vierte Welt (which means '4th World' in German) is really like stepping into another dimension - it's a place where theatre absolutely should not exist. For one, there are these 4 giant pillars in the centre of the room, presumably needed to support the goliathic apartment building in which the theatre is housed, and guaranteed to block the sightlines of even the most flexible giraffe. The room has the feeling of an office-block, with major light and sound bleed coming from the raucous, inescapable Kotbusser Tor outside.
It's not a coincidence that I've never seen anything to really blow me away in Vierte Welt. It's that kind of space, too connected with reality to offer the transformative, escapist experience people (myself included) have come to expect from theatre in the West, based in the illusions offered by the Ancient Greeks.
The design of Notaufnahme - Hospitali (primavera*maas) does just about as good a job as any show I've seen at dealing thoroughly with the space. The action - centred around a Berlin artist from Tanzania with mental illness - is supplemented by pre-recorded screens which approximate the action (rather like looking at a poorly lip-synced animation, but very effective). We follow the central character through his struggles with the German medical system, as in a maze of bureaucracy - mirrored by the scrawled wallpaper depicting a city skyline - and a fragmented, confused story emerges of the difficulties in addressing mental illness.
It's not a coincidence that I've never seen anything to really blow me away in Vierte Welt. It's that kind of space, too connected with reality to offer the transformative, escapist experience people (myself included) have come to expect from theatre in the West, based in the illusions offered by the Ancient Greeks.
The design of Notaufnahme - Hospitali (primavera*maas) does just about as good a job as any show I've seen at dealing thoroughly with the space. The action - centred around a Berlin artist from Tanzania with mental illness - is supplemented by pre-recorded screens which approximate the action (rather like looking at a poorly lip-synced animation, but very effective). We follow the central character through his struggles with the German medical system, as in a maze of bureaucracy - mirrored by the scrawled wallpaper depicting a city skyline - and a fragmented, confused story emerges of the difficulties in addressing mental illness.
