Future Noise

To speak about the power of shared experience, about a WE, in the theatre, also means to give back to the chorus the political explosiveness it already had in ancient theatre. Few have reinterpreted this form as radically as Marta Górnicka. The Polish director is one of the most influential voices in political theater in Europe – and with her impressive choral works, she has been a powerful voice on our stage for many years.

As part of the Christoph Schlingensief Professorship, which she currently holds at the Ruhr University Bochum, the performance Future Noise was created with a group of young students of scenic research in Bochum. In addition to influences from Piscator's proletarian theater, Brecht's Lehrstücke (didactic plays), and Meyerhold's biomechanics, the exceptional artist draws her inspiration not least from the biographies of the young performers. They ask: How can individual and collective resistance be organized today to defend endangered democratic values?

An intense and haunting speaking choir performance, which sometimes reacts to current news and looks at the world from the perspective of young people. What does it mean to be young today? Is the future still conceivable? Or do we first have to radically reimagine the world?

The noise that heralds the future in this performance becomes an unmistakable statement by the choir, whose collective power no one can easily escape.

The choir speaks – loudly, precisely, and unmistakably: If noise is what democracy sounds like: Bring the future noise!

It's no coincidence that Future Noise opens our season marking the 30th anniversary of the "Schuppen": Many years ago, a collaboration with the Ruhr University Bochum on a choir project in the theater studies department marked an important initiatory moment for the independent theater scene in North Rhine-Westphalia. Numerous groups emerged from this collaboration – such as kainkollektiv and Anna Kpok – which found their artistic home in the Ringlokschuppen in the years that followed.

This programmatic combination of artistic research, political aspirations, and collective practice continues to shape the Ringlokschuppen to this day. The collaboration between an advanced, internationally successful artist and young performers exemplifies how we understand our theater program – as a dialogue between young and up-and-coming artists and established, contemporary, relevant positions in the performing arts.

With Future Noise, the 30th anniversary brings us full circle to the beginning of the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr's era as a leading theater in the Ruhr region.

by and with: Smilla Ann, Anjali Bröcker, Ayla Buchholz, Katharina Frölich, Cosmo Glanc, Judith Grytzka, Lukas Huber, Agnetha Jaunich, Jan Kollenbach, Lisa Schäfer, Camila Scholtbach, Lioba Sombetzki und Johanna Sowka

Christoph-Schlingensief-Gastprofessur: Marta Górnicka

The Christoph Schlingensief Visiting Professorship was established in 2015 by the Kunststiftung NRW for the Master's program in Scenic Research at Ruhr University Bochum. It is awarded annually to internationally renowned artists from the fields of theater and performance. The goal of the artistic professorship is to impart experiential knowledge and working methods from an applied perspective to students.