Und oder oder oder oder und und beziehungsweise und oder beziehungsweise oder und beziehungsweise einfach und

In cooperation with the 1st StückeWerkstatt of the Mülheimer Theatertage and uniT Graz

The author Nele Stuhler and the director FX Mayr have developed a comedy together that deals with opposites – or, to be more accurate: a word score that moves on from the basics of «yes – no», «light – dark», «near – far» to the hot topics of our time. Nele Stuhler has devised extremely funny, musical and poetic word sequences that question everyday banalities («breakfast: yes or no») along with the state of the world on a grander scale («war: yes or no»). Three actors perform this concert of definitions («me – you»), distinctions («brawn – brain») and value judgements («cool – uncool»). They supplement and contradict each other, find associations that range from the big city to the microbiome and carry the need for continual assessment («everything’s going to be alright – everything’s getting worse») to the point of absurdity. What is being tested here is nothing less than dialogue in its clearest form and all its beauty.

«There are people who say that things have always been very complicated. And there are people who say that things are getting more and more complicated all the time. And that in any case things either are today or have always been neither one thing nor the other, but both. Or neither. Or somehow contradictory. And anyone who can put up with that has a tolerance for ambiguity. There are people who say that having high tolerance for ambiguity makes life easier. There are people who say that people fundamentally lack a high tolerance for ambiguity.  And there are people who say that people are showing less and less tolerance for ambiguity now. That we can handle less and less. Or that we can’t handle very much at all. And that people then build structures for themselves that are less complex. That simplify the world because contradictions are increasingly stressful. For example with the help of dichotomies. There are people who say that people are making it easier and easier for themselves. And there are people who say making it easy for themselves is what people have always done.» Nele Stuhler