THIS PLOT IS NOT FOR SALE
Netzwerk Münchner Theatertexter*innen & Gisemba Ursula (Munich | Nairobi)
TicketsSchedule
European Premiere
At the heart of this multi-lingual theatrical collage is a trio of characters whose perspectives could not be more different: Stevan, a Serbian photographer with a mysterious “camera absurda”; Pete, an ambitious middle-class Kenyan; and Kathi, a German heiress in possession of a serious post-colonial guilt complex. All three wish to wield the camera in service of their own individual purpose – and as a result find themselves wrestling with the nature of interpretative sovereignty as it pertains to both past and future. Drawing on their own individual cultural and social contexts, Denijen Pauljević, Gisemba Ursula, and Theresa Seraphin have created a multi-layered grotesquerie, a performance that lays bare each participant’s own entanglement within global power structures. In this work, documentary material meets absurdist theatre, and historical re-enactments meet speculative visions of the future. Elements that initially seem obvious prove to be part of a complex interweaving of identities, role models, and attributions. Who does history belong to – and who will enact the future?
Biography
Theresa Seraphin is a theatre maker, author, and curator. She studied dramaturgy, comparative literature, and art history at the Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich and Kyonngi University in Seoul. She founded the Netzwerk Münchner Theatertexter*innen together with Raphaela Bardutzky in 2016. At the 2024 Heidelberger Stückemarkt, she received the Jugendstückpreis (Youth Playwriting Award) for her production ERIK*A (2023). Although she primarily writes for the theatre, Theresa Seraphin is also an active poet, and has been published in the literature magazine Jenny, in MISCHEN, and in the 2024 Jahrbuch der Lyrik, among other publications.
Gisemba Ursula’s artistic practice finds its expression in collaborative and performative texts, immersive audio works, and experimental films. Taking as a starting point the deconstruction of how Black African femininity is represented, her work explores experimental forms and critical narrative methodologies. Some of her more recent works include BEATRIZ, THE SAINT PRAYS (Kampala Biennale 2020, Manyatta Screenings 2021), THE ARRANGEMENT (AWON Festival 2022, and published in the 2023 anthology Gendering Taboos), and A SONG FOR ALICE: SOLDIER’S LAMENT (SPIELART Festival Munich, 2023). This work was created during Gisemba Ursula's residency at Villa Waldberta as part of the City of Munich's artist-in-residence programme in 2023, which led to her collaboration with Netzwerk Münchner Theatertexter*innen, a creative partnership that continues to this day.
Born in Belgrade, Denijen Pauljević fled to Germany as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. He is an author, theatre maker, curator, and performer. In 2014 he received funding from the Raniser Debüt author grant programme, and from the City of Munich he has variously received a literary grant in 2015, a special grant in 2021, and an intercultural grant in 2022. Denijen Pauljević taught playwriting at the HFF Munich for a semester in 2015 and as well as creative writing for the stage at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München since 2021. He has been in charge of the cultural programme at Bellevue di Monaco since 2022.
Cast
Text, direction & performance
Denijen Pauljević | Theresa Seraphin | Gisemba Ursula
Voice (camera absurda)
Jelena Kuljić
Stage & costume
Flower Maina
Sound design
Asmir Šabić
Outside eyes
Rinus Silzle | Mugambi Nthiga
Production management
Rat & Tat Kulturbüro | Fedari Oyagi
Diversity coach
Manina Ott | Mumbua Musembi
Acting coach
Jelena Kuljić | Len Smith
Digital media design
Timothy Gicheha Simon
Graphic design
Creative Age | Timothy Gicheha Simon
Info
This performance includes satirical depictions of colonial history, including language and imagery that reproduce colonial and racist narratives. It also contains images of dead animals, flashing lights, and the use of coarse language.
Accessibility
Production & Realization
Funded by
Verband freie Darstellende Künste Bayern e.V. im Rahmen der Prozessförderung des „Förderpakets Freie Kunst 2025“ mit Mitteln des Bayerischen Staatsministeriums für Wissenschaft und Kunst | Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München Abteilung 3
Co-production
Goethe Institut (Internationaler Koproduktionsfonds) | SPIELART Festival Munich | PATHOS theater | Bellevue di Monaco
The Literaturportal Bayern acts as a media co-operation partner of the production.
