Fin de mission / ohne Auftrag leben

OTHNI Laboratoire de Théâtre de Yaoandé / Martin Ambara (Cameroon) and kainkollektiv / Lettow&Schmuck (Germany)

While in 1607 the first opera in world's history - Monteverdi's "Orpheus" -  premieres in Mantua and shows how Eurydice gets on a boat to the underworld and simultaneously the first ships set sail from London to America in order to found the first colony in Virginia, there is another boat that departs from a hidden West-African beach far away, which is loaded with people who set off to a violent journey. Destination: the "New World" that we still inhabit today...

In FIN DE MISSION / LIVING WITHOUT A MISSION kainkollektiv and the Cameroonian theatre laboratory OTHNI design the first German-Cameroonian OPERA(TION) on the "memory of  slavery". In the encounter of two extremely different musical traditions a new sound landscape emerges which communicates with the concrete and imaginary landscapes of the European-African history of slavery - from the laments and dirges over the workers' and resistance songs to the repertoire of the European opera. A musical theatre performance which excavates our unknown and suppressed heritage from the depths of historical grounds until it literally blows up. A mission at the end of all missions, a mission: without a mission.
 

Concept and Staging: kainkollektiv (Fabian Lettow / Mirjam Schmuck) und Martin Ambara (OTHNI) | Stage: herrwolke | Costume: Alexandra Tivig | Production direction: Mina Novakova | Technical direction: Stefan Göbel | Technical assistance: Valéry Kwongue Ebouele | Artistic collaboration: Kathrin Ebmeier | With: Antoine Effroy, Catherine Jodoin, David Guy Kono, Carsten Langer, Madeleine Pélagie Nga Alima, Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling, Kerstin Pohle, Nils Voges, Edith Voges Nana Tchuinang, Jean Calvin Yugye | Co-produced by Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, FFT Düsseldorf, Kampnagel Hamburg, Doual'Art Douala and the Goethe-Institute – International Coproduction Fund | Supported by the Ministry of family, children, youth, culture and sport of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, the Kunststiftung NRW, conceptual support of the Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V., the program Interkultur of the regional Association Ruhr and the Ministry of Arts and Culture, Cameroon.