The feminist performance group Swoosh Lieu transforms the theatre into a playful, technology-based manifesto party in which the explosive power of the centuries-old, marginalised figure of the witch becomes a figure of hope for a future beyond masculine hegemony.

The original meaning of deus ex machina was of a divine being that appeared with the aid of a machine. For Swoosh Lieu this machine is a goddess worshipped by the new “haggers”. A blend of “hags” and “hackers”, these are the alchemists of the future, experimenting with lifestyles that ignore biological descent and binary gender roles. They decode body images, narrative forms, stage technology and develop queer-feminist concepts of kinship.

The stage space is transformed into a circuit board, which instead of a chronological narrative, produces the maximum possible de-hierarchised connection, in which futurist tech constructs become narrators, spotlights turn into animals and the performers into connections. Past and future, human and machine merge in a magic fog. Swoosh Lieu’s theatre is simultaneously both a playground and a battle zone, a laboratory and a tenderness machine.

Age: 16+
Language: German
Duration: approx. 70 Minuten

A project from Swoosh Lieu
concept und light: Johanna Castell
concept, sound and text: Katharina Pelosi
concept, video, text and performance: Rosa Wernecke
stage and costume: Magdalena Emmerig
puppet show and robotics: Frieder Miller
technical director: Jones Seitz
technical director guest performance: Anahí Pérez
speaker: Dela Dabulamanzi und Birte Schnöink
expert advice: Hannah Fitsch
Outside Eye: Friederike Thielmann
equipment assistant: Katharina Olt
assistant: Felix Giesler
production director: Annett Hardegen/Vierte Welt Produktion
technical production: Gefährliche Arbeit
light technician: Sebastian Schackert
sound technician: David Hoffmann
stage constructor: Till Korfhage
photos: Charlotte Bösling

Eine Produktion von Swoosh Lieu in Koproduktion mit dem Künstlerinnenhaus Mousonturm. Gefördert vom Fonds Darstellende Künste, dem Frauenreferat der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, dem Hessischen Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst und der Rudolf-Augstein-Stiftung. Swoosh Lieu werden gefördert vom Kulturamt der Stadt Frankfurt am Main.*