Ich nicht Ich (2009)

“Ich nicht Ich is an apt portrayal of the ambiguity in Handke’s text. This production is adamantly consequent in playing with norms and formatting—the term ‘cross over’ is much more than just an empty catchphrase.”
Neue Musik Zeitschrift

The dance/music theater piece Ich nicht Ich utilizes Peter Handke’s Sprechstück (translated into English as speak-in) Self-Accusation as its field of association. Peter Handke wrote Self-Accusation in 1965. With its thoroughly rhythmic language it is a play without a plot and without images to frame the person between self-determination and determination by others. A nameless “I” (Ich) confesses to the viewer his breaches of the social rules of conduct, thereby forcing the viewers to choose their own stance between assimilation and rebellion: “I played the game. I didn’t do it right. I played with rules that went against the rules of convention. I played in places and times that made me seem asocial and oblivious of the world around me.”
Fabian Chyle and stage designer Adrian Silvestri portray this text on top of a large platform with small entranceways and trapdoors while separating the room for maneuvering into a world above and below. While video projections (by Leonie Weber) tell stories of human normalization from the “underworld,” while the dancers on the upper portion of the stage make physical attempts to break out. The musical concept was created by Bernd Konrad, Hans-Peter Jahn and Patrick Bebelaar.