Showtime

Forced Entertainment

In existence since 1984, „Forced Entertainment is one of the most influential European groups of recent decades. Many of the innovations of style that have characterised theatre in the nineties are indebted to the group’s inimitable uncompromising vocabulary, the way they narrate urban mythologies, their despairing desire to inject meaning into modern life and not least their artistic integrity.

»Showtime« Live-Art Performance

A deserted warehouse at the end of night. The atmosphere of a haunted house. Talking trees dance, a naked bank robber – his stocking mask is all that he has left – begs for money. Dogs speak of their first suicide attempts and people carry timebombs that tick relentlessly. Wasteland and wretched stories in which childish dreams collide with the harsh world, full of brutality, sex, violence, cheap kitsch and comic melancholy. The performance tells of the ecstasies of solitude, of absurd panic and shabby glamour; of the bliss of deceit and the torture of truth; ultimately of a laughter that is crying. Like a terrifying phonecall, it is unclear where this piece comes from. Or perhaps it is like a warm fog with a chilling landscape shining through from behind.

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Direction: Tim Etchells
Performers: Robin Arthur, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O’Connor, Richard Lowdon
When: Tuesday, June 19, 19.30; Wednesday, June 20, 19.30
Where: Reithalle A, Schiffbauergasse
Duration: 90 minutes