First Workshop – Summary and Results

On the first nexus Workshop participated: Fermesk Abdolrahman, Bilal Bulut, Aziz Capkurt, Melina Delpho, Hicran Demir, David Fischer, Claudia Grönemeyer, Rabbi Heybetoğlu, Annika Ley, Andreas Meidinger, Jennifer Merten, Yadigar Uzun and as workshop leader Mirza Metin and Frank Heuel. Translator was Nihat Mert.

For two days we exchanged ideas and expectations with regard to nexus and reported on and discussed theater aesthetics, playing styles and reception experiences in Kurdish and German theaters.

The workshop participants combine goals with the foundation and work of the new Kurdish-German theater network

• to be seen as an artist and not as part of a political discourse
• make multicultural contacts for your own theatrical work
• connecting different languages and people in the work,
• to meet at eye level,
• continue to build the network together and share ideas,
• find a way onto the stage via the network in Germany,
• to find something like home in the artistic work
• to create the basis for understanding and storytelling in cooperation.

We asked which topics concern first:

• What does the censorship-free work in Germany mean for the Kurdish theater-makers?
• What are the differences in the playing styles of Kurdish and German theater?
• What is the difference between the expectations of a Kurdish and a German audience?
• Does the high energy of Kurdish theater stem from the understanding of a theater of resistance – palpable in the text, in the play, in the stagings?
• How does Kurdish theater here in Germany reach German audiences?
• What does the theater look like, which is Kurdish-German and works for us theatrical creators and reaches the audience?

We were able to discuss quite a few of the questions on the basis of the productions “Anziehungskräfte”, a German-Kurdish co-production, and “Disco Nummer 5”, a purely Kurdish theater production, which was shown for the first time in Germany during the workshop. In addition, it was very important for the German participants to learn something about the history and present manifestations of the Kurdish theater.
The language (s) were a major issue – both in terms of communication in the workshop and as an artistic means of expression. It was agreed that we – with the help of a translator – would communicate in German and Kurdish workshops. (In the first workshop, most spoke Kurmancî or Soranî and German.) Language as an important part of identity, as the main means of expression of authors and actors, will play a major role in the collective work.

Artistic home

An artistic home can only be found in the work itself. Which aesthetic, content-related and dramaturgical aspects are of particular importance in terms of cooperation? How do cooperations work in which artists of different traditions and perceptions meet? This first workshop is about networking with all participants about working methods and possibly cooperation experiences. The workshop will feature two performances: a German-Kurdish co-production and a Kurdish guest performance.
The workshop will be led by Mirza Metin, Kurdish author, director and actor and director of the Kurdish theater Şermola Performans, Istanbul, and Frank Heuel, artistic director of the fringe ensemble. The two met in Istanbul and have worked together several times.