DOI: 10.20375/0000-0011-48e9-6
title: Anwesend. Aufgehoben. Lebenszeichen aus der Anstalt

description: Abstract: 
The play "Anwesend. Aufgehoben" is a sequential staging inspired by historical works from the Prinzhorn Collection in Heidelberg, which is an archive of aesthetic creations crafted by patients from psychiatric asylums in pre-World War I Germany. This performance is presented by the Berlin-based collective Theater Thikwa. Among the ten performers, who all don white linen, there is a mix of individuals with and without disabilities; however, only Down Syndrome and spasticity can be definitively identified. The individual fragments are partitioned by the use of folding screens, although the specific arrangement detailed in the production may vary and is subject to change.

Details: 
The first fragment deals with the love relationship between a lanky boy and a strong woman. The narration is framed by the unconventional gender roles of both, as well as the patriarchal moral concept of the woman's father. The patriarch expects a classical, heteronormative performance from his son-in-law, for which the same is too fragile. To keep this deficit secret, the strong daughter secretly takes over her boyfriend's duties. 
The second fragment feeds on a string of partly diffused monologues and dialogues. First, a middle-aged woman loudly recites family names and ambiguous memories. All the other actors sit spread out on two tables at the edge of the stage, unobtrusively performing other activities such as sewing. A young man rises and begins a conversation with the woman, who has sat down in the meantime. The conversational parts of both, even in monologue, are elliptical. The two exchange advice for household and health. A new monologue of the woman follows, which again apparently consists of diary fragments. As the woman sits down again another young man rises and inspects the other seated occupants. He snatches a note from the narrator of Fragment 1 and reads it out loud, again the sentences are incomplete and incoherent. The narrator takes up the monologue and switches to a prose-like narrative style. He recovers his note and seems to correct it in consultation with the other inmates. This conversation changes again into an elliptical back and forth, with increasingly single, incoherent catchwords ("Victoria", "Asia") being shouted and recalled. Afterward, the woman takes over the speech again and continues to recite her diffuse memories. 
With the walls moving again, the third part begins. A young woman, presumably named Amazona, steps into the foreground and simulates eating from a bowl. As the narrator recites her story, she begins to move along various sound effects (including birdsong and a ratchet) with spasmodic movements and dancing. Amazona comes from Münster and acquires an ark from Arab merchants showing a dancing King David, which she hands over to the local catholic church. Dramatic music and amplified sound effects follow. Amazona dances in front of a white wall in a reddish light. The narration resumes - while the bishop praises the appearance of the Ark, Amazona demands that there be dancing in the church. The bishop, represented by the young man from the beginning of the second fragment, begins to sing, and the strong woman from fragment 1 dances with Amazona. The scene closes with the announcement that dancing does not bring salvation. The dancing believers leave the church, and last of all the bishop with Amazona. 
In the fifth fragment, fast, harmonic music is played. A female inmate, who had previously played Amazona, tries to approach the young man. Again, and again, she fails because of her insecurity, presumably concerning her inadequate appearance. Several times she tries to dress up and make herself look better. Finally, she overcomes herself and asks the man for the umbrella from the previous fragment, which he grants her. Overjoyed, the woman begins to dance, and the next fragment is introduced. 
In the sixth fragment, the three female protagonists, Amazona, the strong woman, and the middle-aged woman kneel in the center of the stage and move (with the umbrella) along with harmonic music. The narrator recounts an arrival amid the Atlantic. The three women simulate drowning as they are rescued by a ringmaster. Other inmates crawl up into the middle, there is a comic staging of the journey back to Europe on an elephant. 
The seventh fragment shows a monologue of the narrator, which resembles a teaching or educational event. Parallel to the lecture information is drawn on the floor, similar to a blackboard. The lecture deals with the geopolitical situation of Turkey. Here, facts are mixed with partly abstruse derivations. However, the popular-scientific abstractions predominate. Thus, connections between words, which resemble themselves, but don´t possess etymological relationships, are falsely established (e.g.: "sehen", eng.: "to see" and "See", eng.: "lake"). Central to the lecture are racist stereotypes about people of color - for example, the word "Maulwurf" (eng.: "mole") is derived from the supposedly "geofences Maul" (eng.: "thrown mouths") of black people. The narrator is interrupted by the middle-aged woman, who then dances with the umbrella and a white jumpsuit, probably the one that was sewn by the other inmates. Intense drum music follows, and the inmates dance and run crisscross across the stage.
In the eighth fragment, the narrator delivers a monologue in vivid and turgid language, which is reminiscent of the Genesis chapter in the Old Testament. Other inmates simulate picking apples, and red balls begin to roll onto the stage. The monologue continues, taking on distinctly late-Christian features. The death of Jesus is addressed, as are anti-Semitic stereotypes. The other inmates crawl on stage, and some of the red balls are moved. 
In the ninth fragment, only the young man is illuminated. To dramatic string music, all the inmates perform slow dance movements, gradually illuminating other patients sitting on stools. The music is complemented by rushing and electronic musical components. Soft and harsh sounds alternate. 
The last fragment is introduced with drum music. All the inmates are on stage and take turns reciting a story that combines elements of the other narratives. The non-speaking patients dance, walk around, or sway on the stools. Then it gets dark. The harmonic music starts again, and the inmates disappear behind the folding screens, waving slowly.