unlearning acts

“the new words of the day are: sea, highway, shotgun. a ‹sea› is the leather chair with wooden arm rests. example: ‹don’t remain standing, sit down in the sea to have a chat. › a ‹highway› is a very strong wind. a ‹shotgun› is a very beautiful white bird.“
from the movie “dogtooth”, giorgos lanthimos, 2009

are we the authors of our own lives or are we just acting out scripts? the one-person play performed by jakob leo stark, inspired by the film “dogtooth” by giorgos lanthimos, plays with this question. at the center of this film is a family in which the parents maintain the fiction that the world beyond the garden fence is a dangerous place. to do this, they keep their children away from any outside influences, forbid them from leaving the property, and teach them a vocabulary that secures their narrative. this goes “well” until three hollywood films get into the hands of the daughter …

“unlearning acts” takes on history and asks to what extent we would be able to rewrite it if the world consisted only of this one narrative and its accompanying vocabulary. you can expect a tragicomic play of 120 words, which shows what possibilities open up in unlearning what has been learned and how difficult or even impossible it is to turn one’s back on the traditional structures once and for all.

“unlearning acts’ is classical physical theater. jakob leo stark struggles for a physical manifestation of his existence. his motivation and the countless attempts to obtain answers, if not redemption, on the other hand, is comprehensible, as if it were something that concerned one concretely and with great urgency. it is a symbolic liberation that spares no venture.” p.s. zeitung