High
We never wanted to take drugs. And we don’t dance at raves, in fan corners or in church services either. We are suspicious, always have been, and even more so since Covid: everything seems intrusive, garish, harder than before. We are alienated, life is a participatory hell. The pandemic has put its hat on individualism. And everything we ever knew about dissolute collective states we have forgotten. We need a rush, an ego disorder, we need collective euphoria.
“High” is a ceremony in a changeable, all-encompassing tent. Here we will gather behind the banner whose inscription we do not yet know. With explicit consideration of all resistances and differences, we will find a rhythm, rehearse a procession and eat from the dough that bears the imprint of all our hands. Until the melancholic, neoliberal ego monster is anaesthetised. Until we jump out of our skin and breathe a sigh of relief: all together. High time.
Credits
Concept/Idea: She She Pop, By and with: Sebastian Bark, Johanna Freiburg, Lisa Lucassen, Mieke Matzke, Ilia Papatheodorou, Tatiana Saphir, Claudia Splitt, Berit Stumpf.
Artistic Advice: Rodrigo Zorzanelli, Sets and Costumes: Lea Søvsø, Künstlerische Artistic Support Sets and Costumes: Ulrike Plehn, Hannah Wolf, Artistic Support Sets: Michael Kleine, Technical Director and Light Design: Christian Maith, Sounddesign: Manuel Horstmann, Video: Benjamin Krieg, Production: Alisa Tretau, Tina Ebert, Intern and Cookiedealer: Charlotte Engel, Dough production: Greta Patten, Intern: Gali Har-Gil, Simultaneous English Live Translation: PANTHEA, Audio description: Pingpong Translation & Subtitling / Martina Reuter, Johanna Krins, PR & Communication: ehrliche arbeit – freies Kulturbüro, Freelance Communication Support: Tina Ebert, Financial Administration: Aminata Oelßner, Company Management: Elke Weber.
Workshop Input: Club Gewalt, I Can Be Your Translator, Mirah Laline, Tuk Bredsdorff.
Odd Meter Groove Doctor: Maurice de Martin.
A production by She She Pop in co-production with HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, FFT Düsseldorf, Schauspiel Leipzig, HELLERAU – EUROPÄISCHES Zentrum der Künste. Supported by Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte.
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and Senate Department Department of Culture Berlin.
Trailer
Dates
past dates:
Press
“It is no coincidence that many other theatres and performance collectives aside from She She Pop are also currently focusing their work on community and ecstasy. Because the longer the growing isolation and social anonymity are taken for granted, the harder we will be hit by the consequences in form of radicalization, hatred and agitation. Just how democratizing intoxication can be, was already evident in the ancient forerunner of theatre: the mystery play, whose content was of a cultic-religious nature and at whose heart lay collective ecstasy. An ecstasy that was rooted in the communal experience of these games, which often lasted for days.”
The Pioneer, Pia von Wersebe, 20.10.2023
“”High” started out as a socio-critical search for a “we”, as an attempt to become intoxicated together with the audience – and ended up as an ironic exercise in meditation with observations on resistance, overcoming shame and participatory fun and games.”
Berliner Zeitung, Ulrich Seidler, 14.10.23
“No, there are no drugs involved here, even if Papatheodorou describes her cookies as having an “effect”. They are to be eaten together at a designated time, so that everyone absorbs the traces and imprints, and possibly sweat and skin flakes of another. Ecstasy is therefore not actually the goal, but rather the experience of collectivity.”
Nachtkritik, Michael Wolf, 13.10.2023
“She She Pop has named the evening “High” with the declared aim of putting us all into a collective state of intoxication here and now, ecstasy under supervision, so to say, or as they call it, “a shared high” (…) Blockages need to be released, resistance eliminated and distracting thoughts banished. (…) The members of She She Pop are not deterred by any of this, they simply perform away any reservations and stick to their guns: stop individualism, bring on the collective ecstasy. Together we are stronger, or at least higher.”
Berliner Morgenpost, Katrin Pauly, 13.10.2023
“It’s okay to think of rituals when watching the show, but we’re not performing any that already exist. (…) As always, we use ourselves as examples and offer ourselves as carriers of strategies that can lead to a high. (…) In this protected theatrical space, there is always the chance to try something out (…), to slip briefly into a different situation, into a different social system, into a social situation. You can’t start a big revolution without first having practiced or tried it out.”
Lisa Lucassen in conversation with Oliver Krantz, rbb kultur radio, 11.10.2023