Residens: MASTER OF ARTS, STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET

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18-24 januari genomför Masterstudenterna i performativa studier på Teatervetenskapen vid Stockholms Universitet ett residens på Turteatern. Under veckan arbetar de med sitt projekt SOS! Theatre, Save Our Souls. Mer information om projektet finns på engelska nedan.

Kort sammanfattning på svenska:

Teater har alltid varit en plats att samlas, socialisera, möta nya människor, att skratta och gråta, rensa, känna sig utmanad eller berikad.

Den här definitionen av teater som en säker och social plats har skakats om under pandemin 2020. Debatter om teaterns relevans har skapat extrema osäkerheter – professionellt, känslomässigt och finansiellt.

Därför vill vi, i den här enorma krisen, erbjuda dig en gåva: något som kan ge dig glädje, tröst och hopp, något som kan väcka upp bortglömda känslor. Låt teatern vara ditt skyddsrum, din hjärdefilibrator, din hjälplina, din livboj.

Vi är fem MA-studenter i Performance Studies från Stockholms Universitet som vill erbjuda dig de överlevnadsstrategier som teatern kan bistå med.

Publik visning:

På grund av pandemin sker inga publika redovisningar i januari, men framtida datum kan tillkomma.

SOS! Theatre Save Our Souls

FROM AND WITH

Elena Isabella Drăghici
Lolita Ekman
Yichan Li
Marc Antoine Vumilio Muhindo
Julia Stina Skoglund

SUPERVISION:

Dr. Meike Wagner

ABOUT

Theatre has always been a place to gather, socialize, meet new people, to laugh and cry, to purify, feel challenged or enriched.

This notion of theatre as a safe and social space has been shook up in the 2020 pandemic crisis. Debates about the relevance of theatre ‘for the system’ have created extreme insecurities – professional emotional and financial. The theatre has continuously stood under pressure as its core idea – people gathering – became a high-risk activity. All of a sudden, theatre has become a non-place, a dangerous site. Yet, for some theatre is essential, it gives a meaning to their lives. It is a safeguard for their souls. There have been different strategies of filling the gap that the vanishing of culture, arts and theatre from public life have left. What is your strategy?

In 1904, the German Imperial Marine developed the Morse code SOS to quickly communicate in cases of life-threatening situations. Since then, the code has often been read as ‘save our souls’. We start from this reading of SOS and relate it to the current void in our cultural life: Theatre is our soul food nourishing our emotional and intellectual selves.

We live in an unstable world. We always did and we always will. This is not news, it is life. During bad times and good times, humanity will adapt and stay strong. This is how we survive. It’s in our DNA. Being near to each other, feelings of belonging, understanding and communion play an important role in human survival. Theatre is a live organism strongly interacting with what we see, hear and think. It is also a powerful resource that can save our souls. People cannot live without theatre and theatre cannot exist without people. That is why, in this profound crisis we would like to offer a gift to you: something which will bring you joy, comfort and hope, something which can wake up forgotten feelings and emotions. Feel free to enter, come inside and let theatre be your home, your fortress, nourishing and inspiring you. Come in and tank up new energy, feel the theatre vibrations. Let theatre be your safe shelter, your heart defibrillator, your emergency telephone, your life buoy.

We are five MA students in Performance Studies from Stockholm University who want to welcome you in the theatre and offer to you our survival strategies which theatre can provide.

We will talk about theatre as a:

  • place for public dialogue and negotiation.
  • archive of feelings, memories and catharsis.
  • place for transformation.
  • place of warmth and belonging.
  • place where the exchange of energy and encounters between people happen.

Theatre is my survival strategy because…

… it is my safe haven, where I feel welcome and create with amazing people. (Julia)

… it charges and inspires me in different moments of life. (Lolita)

What’s yours?