Dschingis Khan
Creators: name: Rincke, Oliver
name: Braemer, Sabrina
name: Chambilla, Jonny
Publisher: name: DARIAH-DE
Year: 2023
Subjects: Racism
Foreign exoticism
Prejudices
Mongolism
Ethnological show
Down's syndrome
Power
Colonialism

description: Abstract: 
This play presents a folk show of Mongolia. The Mongolians, played by three people with Down’s syndrome, are portrayed as uncivilised, wild, and almost feral. On the one hand, this serves the ideas of foreign exoticism. On the other hand, the audience has its prejudices about mental disabilities. Specifically, this alludes to the term “mongoloid”, which was used until recently in connection with this type of disability. 

Details: 
In the beginning, you see a lot of movement on stage. People are running back and forth to prepare everything for the play. They put up a sign that says: “The Mongolian Show.” In the further course, the audience repeatedly sees the preparations and post-processing between the scenes, such as the actors getting changed. A presenter also gives instructions on lighting, fog, and music. In the first half of the play, she repeatedly speaks up to give the team, but especially the actors, precise instructions. In the second half, she steps back and leaves the actors in charge. The play begins with three people wearing long black wigs and long dark coats emerging from the stage floor to Mongolian music. These are the three main actors and, simultaneously, directors: Sabrina, Jonny, and Oliver. Sabrina now begins to “speak” in an incomprehensible language. Through a translation in the background, the audience learns that the three come from Khar Us-Nuur, a region in western Mongolia. They are descendants of Dschinghis Khan, the most powerful ruler of all time, and want to offer the audience an authentic insight into the nature and history of Mongolia. The Mongols were also the punishment of God for the Christian West and conquered the largest empire in history, from the Himalayas to Siberia. In the second scene, entitled “Youth Years,” the three Mongols appear on stage to the sound of the wind, dressed in armour and chained to each other. They walk ponderously in a circle with a stooped posture while groaning and shouting “No” and “Ouch.” Combat exercises of the chosen warriors follow this. Oliver practices shooting with a bow and arrow, making the level increasingly difficult. In the end, Sabrina stands in the direction of the shooting, with a Styrofoam head held above her, which serves as a target. The Mongolian national dances are introduced, with the three actors dancing around the stage to wild music. After this, the play comes an insight into the traditional exercises of the steppe warrior performed by Oliver. He enters the stage with an uncovered upper body and a sword. Accompanied by the sound of the wind, he swings it back and forth as if he were fighting. Then he sticks it into the ground before him, kneels, and shakes his upper body with his head resting on the back of his neck. In the end, he pulls it out again and kisses it. Furthermore, national folk music is presented. Jonny plays the organ on two boxes standing on each other, Oliver blows into a school bag, and Sabrina plucks the sides of a clothes horse. The following scene is about the cruel fate of the defeated enemies. Jonny and Oliver enter the stage with melons in their hands, which they throw vigorously onto the floor until they break. They then kneel on the ground, eating the broken fruit, smacking and grunting. In the traditional preparation of fermented mare’s milk, Oliver and Jonny open a sparkling wine, distributed into glasses and mixed with milk by Sabrina. In a celebratory mood, the three dance, rub their bodies with the white liquid, and splash themselves with it. A text is then shown that reproduces the words of the tribal shaman, according to whom many Mongolians have perished through excessive drinking. The harmful effects of alcohol consumption are also pointed out. Now, two Mongols present the lament of Börte, Dschinghis Khan’s love. Oliver holds a broom and a stick in his hand, imitating a stringed instrument, and Sabrina sings along in unintelligible sounds. She removes her coat and moves around the stage in a black dress. Then she walks among the audience, getting close to some of them. In the background, Jonny laughs maliciously, which changes to a bizarre sound through an echo effect. Meanwhile, Sabrina asks a spectator to dance. After this, the Mongols present the sacred war dance of the fetish worshippers, with them standing in a line making monkey noises. From here on, the actors take complete control of the piece. They walk bent forward into the audience, adjust something on the music desk, while one of them dances. Afterward, they interact with the audience as well as with each other. While communicating in an unintelligible babble of voices, they rub their hands on their bodies and perform some sexual hip movements. Furthermore, Jonny fetches a chair and sits on it while Oliver lies on the floor in front of him with an open champagne bottle. Now a large slingshot on wheels is brought in, which is used to fire painted Styrofoam heads, presumably meant to represent skulls, into the audience. Afterward, the Mongolians sit down at the edge to eat chips and drink Coke. In the penultimate scene, a Mongolian dressed as a monster enters the stage. Sabrina, who has a gun with her, shoots him in the head, and he falls to the floor dead. The other Mongol, who also puts on the monster mask, is also shot by her. Finally, she puts on the mask and performs the killing on herself. Before the lifeless Mongols are carried off stage, a man who is part of the theatre team takes the opportunity to make it clear to the audience that the idea of the play does not reflect on him. He notes that just because he is physically disabled, he does not want to make himself the subject of the play. He would find that annoying. In the end, the stage is decorated with African elements, and the sign is changed to “The Cannibal Show.” To African music, the actors, who were previously dressed as Mongols, come in with African skirts, bones in their mouths, and short curly hair. They take a bow together with the rest of the team. In the end, a short video is shown in which you can see the Mongols in a town with a horse.