Three people on a stage, two of them dressed in dark clothes and sitting on the floor in the foreground with their backs to us. They look at the third person, who is standing a little in the background, and point a large ring light at the person. The third person is wearing gold-coloured trousers, white sneakers and a sports bra. She is leaning on a turquoise crutch with her left arm and looking up at a light green balloon, which she is popping with her right hand.


A person with a blond bob in front of a white high partition. She is wearing silver bell-bottom trousers and white sneakers, along with a blue top and a fluffy blue jacket. The person has her hips bent in and her right arm stretched up in the air. She holds her left hand to her stomach. She is looking into the audience.
Two people are standing next to each other, a little distance apart, each in front of a white high partition. The person on the left is wearing gold-coloured trousers, white sneakers, a yellow top and a white waistcoat. Her dark curly hair is tied in a braid. She leans on a blue crutch with her left hand and looks to her right. To her right, the second crutch leans against the partition wall.
 On the right stands the second person, fully dressed in a loose silver reflective suit. She has dark hair, also tied in a braid, holds a microphone in front of her mouth and sings. Her hip is slightly bent, she leans back a little.

ZER-BRECH-LICH

Alessandro Schiattarella

Basel

A word, broken down into its syllables. Or a word becoming the chorus for an anthem on fragility itself. Because anyone who says “zerbrechlich” (the German word for “fragile”), is giving the word special attention, expressing its particular beauty. In ZER-BRECH-LICH, choreographer Alessandro Schiattarella creates a piece of music theatre that tells us about body diversity. The three disabled performers Victoria Antonova, Alice Giuliani and Laila White explore their own and other identities. They try on sounds as if they were clothes, looking for the ultimate pop music moment. On stage, they create a glamorous concert – or maybe something completely different?

The piece uses dance and text, sounds and objects to show how engaging with our own vulnerability can carry a political message and form a vision of awareness. It encourages new experiences: we know the noise of something breaking. But what does it sound like when something is prevented from breaking?

 

Alessandro Schiattarella was born in Naples, Italy, in 1982. He studied dance at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and at La Scala in Milan. Schiattarella completed his studies at the Rudra Bejart in Lausanne. In 2020, he earned a master's degree in applied arts at the FHNW in Basel. He has collaborated with Maurice Bejart, Marco Goecke, Koen Augustijnen and Haris Pasovic, among others. In 2014 he staged his first solo performance Altrove, which was selected by the international platform Aerowaves Twenty17. In addition to his work as a choreographer, he collaborates with the collective "The Army of Love" as well as the crip-queer artist group "Criptonite" and is a member of the collective "Blasphemic Readings Soirée", a nomadic platform for (queer-)feminist reading and discussion culture.

By playing the video data is transmitted to Vimeo. Details can be found in the privacy policy.

In DGS: ZER-BRECH-LICH

Production credits

Direction, Choreography Alessandro Schiattarella Musical Direction Richard Schwennicke With Alice Giuliani, Victoria Antonova, Laila White Scenography Margarete Albinger Dramaturgy Martin Mutschler Head of Production Terry Blühdorn Xchange Matthias Brandt Music Gina eté Costume Design Giulia Marcotullio Photos Clemens Heidrich

A co-production by Staatsoper Hannover, Schauspiel Hannover, and Festival Theaterformen. In cooperation with the Theaterakademie Hamburg.Funded by the Jupiter Programme of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).