The Ruhrtriennale 2024 has published its programme
The Ruhrtriennale 2024 is to be a festival for everyone! Director Ivo Van Hove has put together a multi-faceted programme - from rock and pop music theatre with music by PJ Harvey to an immersive music theatre installation with Chorwerk Ruhr and a slapstick operetta musical by Herbert Fritsch and Herbert Grönemeyer.
In total, there are 33 productions and projects with 138 events in Bochum, Duisburg and Essen this year. Around 660 artists from 37 countries will be coming to the Ruhr region for the programme. The programme starts at midday on the weekends in the festival centre with taster concerts and workshops, most of which are free of charge. The first performances begin in the afternoon, so that visitors can choose from a wide range of programmes.
The Ruhrtriennale is planning the following productions in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord:
Theatre
LEGENDE
17.08.-23.08.2024
LEGENDE presents the world of the famous, in the West largely unknown filmmaker Sergei Parajanov. The dazzling multiplicity and surreal creativity of his films are an inspiration, most recently for superstar Lady Gaga. LEGENDE does not present the biopic of an important artist. Instead, Serebrennikov features Parajanov with poetic wit as the allegory of an artist, a poet, a wanderer, a fighter and a rebel. In ten legends, the kaleidoscope of his life between passion, eccentricity, beauty and oppression emerges, embedded in an infinitely rich cosmos of cultures.
2024 is the centenary of Sergei Parajanov. Born 1924 in Tbilisi, he grew up in the Soviet Union, where he became a film director, taking a stand in his life and his art against nomenclature and repression. As a result, he spent time in prison and hard labor camps and was banned from making films. A wide array of artists, including Tarkowski, Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, Kurosawa, Louis Aragon, Elsa Triolet, Françoise Sagan and Yves Saint Laurent, admired his surreally poetic works and called for his release from prison, in most cases to no avail. Parajanov died in 1990 in Armenia, just months before Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine gained their independence and the Soviet Union collapsed.
Co-produced by Ruhrtriennale, Thalia Theater and Kirill & Friends Company.
Bérénice
25.08-29.08.2024
Freely inspired by Jean Racine’s Bérénice, Romeo Castellucci brings to life an adaptation of this classic tragedy in the form of a monologue by international acting icon Isabelle Huppert. Two lovers must separate for the sake of the state. The Roman Emperor Titus falls in love with the Jewish Queen Bérénice and discovers she loves him in return. However, the laws of Rome forbid him to marry her. Here, love is the theatre of cruelty. Bérénice is probably the most unsettling tragedy ever written. And yet it has moved us to tears for centuries, as if we can see ourselves inside it. Huppert’s voice is the source of almost every sound, noise and silence in this performance, edited and processed by sound artist Scott Gibbons. A majestic return to the Ruhrtriennale by Romeo Castellucci.
Produced by Societas, Cesena; Printemps des Comédiens / Cité du Théâtre Domaine d’O, Montpellier. Co-produced by Ruhrtriennale, Théâtre de La Ville Paris, Comédie de Genève, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, deSingel International Arts Center, Festival Temporada Alta, Teatro di Napoli – Teatro Nazionale, Thalia Theater Hamburg, Onassis Stegi, Triennale Milano, National Taichung Theater, Holland Festival, LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, TAP - Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand – Scène Nationale, Théâtre national de Bretagne.
MUSIC THEATRE
Pferd frisst Hut
11.09.-15.09.2024
Laugh-out-loud dialogue, an outrageous plot and Grönemeyer’s songs – the musical comedy of mistaken identity Pferd frisst Hut (literally: “Horse Eats Hat”) has a lot going for it. This version by Herbert Grönemeyer (music) and Herbert Fritsch (direction) brings Eugène Labiche’s successful critique of social habits The Italian Straw Hat bang up to date. Its rapid succession of daft and absurd scenes produces an anarchic piece of musical theatre that defies categorisation to invent a genre all its own. Songs that are potential earworms rub up against orchestral passages, and torrents of words meet moments of nostalgia. Herbert Grönemeyer has specially composed new songs with sharp lyrics. Herbert Fritsch tempts the audience into a typical world – for him – of absurd humour and slapstick gags. Comic and frivolous concerns lead to a surprising finale. After its successful world premiere at Theater Basel, the show now comes to the Ruhrtriennale, bringing with it anarchy, social criticism and loads of fun!
Produced by Theater Basel and co-produced by Komische Oper Berlin.
Musical comedy based on Eugène Labiche's "An Italian Straw Hat" in an adaptation by Sabrina Zwach.
Musical incorporation by Herbert Grönemeyer.
Performance rights: S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Mai
KONZERT
Music for Ruhr - Nils Frahm
30.08.2024 + 31.08.2024
Nils Frahm’s ability to combine classical compositions with modern influences is almost unrivalled. Having grown up with the piano, the composer and producer now uses an entire series of instruments: including the concert grand, the glass harmonica and the harpsichord. He also plays synthesizers, and makes use of loops, echo effects and samples, the audience and his talent for improvisation.
Since 2011 Frahm has consistently been a growing name on the international music scene. As well as numerous solo works, he has engaged in multiple collaborations with other contemporary musicians and also written film scores, and winning an award for Victoria (2015), among others.
As part of his Music for tour, Frahm now visits the Ruhr for the Ruhrtriennale for a concert that mixes old and new in a unique way.
JUNGE TRIENNALE UND COMMUNITY-PROGRAMM
Celebration Parade
Celebrate when and where you can! For three days in a row we will be doing this in Essen, Duisburg and Bochum in the Landschaftspark, at Zollverein and in the Westpark, when a pair of elephants cross the Ruhr region together with their young. Instead of real elephants, life-sized artist-built creatures will explore the area. They are presented by the Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa, famous around the world for their fantastic creations (including War Horse and Little Amal), working here in collaboration with the Ukwanda Puppets & Designs Art Collective. These are the Celebration Parade’s first stops in Europe and, accompanied by music, it will explore it surroundings and invite school classes, children and families to make their own animal figures in advance at school and at the Festival Centre that they can then bring to life in the parade. A celebration you won’t forget!
Produced by Handspring Puppet Company and Ukwanda Puppets & Design Collective. In Cooperation with the Figurentheater-Kolleg Bochum. Supported by Figurentheaterkolleg e.V. Commissioned by WOMADelaide 2024.
Further information on the programme and tickets can be found at www.ruhrtriennale.de.
