CHRISTOP MARTHALER Der Gipfel

In the organizer's words:

EN

As a European co-production, this alpine summit meeting measures our present - in poetic, sometimes sad tableaux, but with humor and very good songs.

With DER GIPFEL, Christoph Marthaler, the great (in)meaningful poet of European theater, returns to the summer festival. In his new European production, the Swiss resident in Hamburg deals with the coexistence of communities and brings together six very unconventional people in a hut on a mountain peak. A retreat from reality? A summit meeting? A symbol for Europe? Ambiguous and multilingual, this isolated European group waits and negotiates far from the centers of life, wanders through protocols and meanings - and eats croissants for breakfast. "I've always liked observing how communities and groups form and organize themselves, how everyone finds their place or not," says Marthaler about his summit meeting. With his unique mixture of linguistic confusion, musical seriousness and absurd wit, he shows how difficult and at the same time necessary it is to make joint decisions - for the survival of humanity, of alliances of states and of the theater. And he shows how great art can constantly renew the idea of living together and disarmingly assert it against all forms of nationalism.

EN

This European co-production gathers six eccentrics on an alpine summit - poetic, at times melancholic, always humorous, and carried by very good songs.

With DER GIPFEL (THE SUMMIT), Christoph Marthaler - Europe's outstanding theater poet of the (non)sensical - returns to the Summer Festival. Now based in Hamburg, the Swiss director explores how communities live together in this new European production, by placing six idiosyncratic figures in a mountaintop hut. A retreat from reality? A summit? A symbol for Europe? Isolated and multilingual, the group waits, negotiates, and drifts through protocols and meanings - while breakfasting on Swiss Gipfeli. "I've always loved watching how groups form and organize, how everyone finds-or doesn't find-their place," says Marthaler. Blending linguistic confusion, musical gravity, and absurd humor, he captures the difficulty and urgency of making decisions together-for humanity, for political unions, and for theater itself. And he shows how great art can continually renew the idea of coexistence and disarm nationalism with beauty and wit.

Price information:

9-48 Euro (50% reduced with festival ticket)