Forte Youth Collective: Exercise of celebrating nonsense together

In the organizer's words:

Performance | Forte Youth Collective

"Exercise of Celebrating Nonsense Together" is a poetic and multimedia journey through surreal landscapes in which the boundaries between dream, reality and imagination become blurred. Characters such as Hawaa and Azzam embody universal themes such as the burden of dreams, the beauty in contradictions and the confrontation with inner fears. In a powerful blend of performance, puppet theater and transcultural aesthetics, the piece invites us to celebrate nonsense as the source of creative spirit and connection."

With "Exercise of Celebrating Nonsense Together", the Forte Youth Collective is bringing the third and final part of its impressive Exercise series to the stage. What began in 2022 under the direction of conceptual artist Neam Tarek as an artistic research trip now culminates in a multimedia theater production that celebrates the seemingly absurd and understands the nonsense in all of us as a source of creativity, diversity and connection.
Under the collective direction of Soubhi Shami, the piece combines performance, elements of puppet theater and visual-poetic images to create a fascinating production that plays through different levels of dream, reality and imagination. Figures such as Hawaa and Azzam come into focus. They carry burdens, find beauty in monstrosities and face their inner fears and resistance - all interwoven in surreal and absurdly humorous scenes that are both touching and thought-provoking.

Arabic, English and German merge in the production to create a transcultural network of voices and life experiences. This polyphonic structure emphasizes the different perspectives of the performers and creates fluid transitions between everyday life and the dream world. Puppets and performative means intensify these connections and allow the audience to immerse themselves deeply in the atmosphere of the production.
The theatrical journey leads through deserts made of dough, beet waterfalls and grain storms, among other things, and raises universal questions: How do we carry the weight of our dreams? How do we confront our inner spirits and demons? And what remains when we stop searching for meaning and start celebrating nonsense?
This multifaceted production is the result of a collaborative process that emerged in open workshops. The aim of the project is to open up alternative ways of self-expression and to overcome barriers such as language or cultural differences and to search together for possibilities of artistic collaboration and participation in the spirit of the performing arts. The performers worked together to develop performative scenes that transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries. The materials were woven into a multimedia script that creates space for exchange and encounters and enables connections between different perspectives.

"Exercise of Celebrating Nonsense Together" is an invitation to embrace the seemingly meaningless and create new meanings. Let yourself be touched by the strength of dissonance, the beauty of imperfection and the power of the transcultural - an experience that appeals to both theater lovers and curious explorers.

Concept & direction: Neam Tarek & Soubhi Shami
Multimedia performance: Kata Potrykus
Stage design: Jere Ikongio
Choreography: Shady Greis
Script Supervisor: Hanin Hanafi
Puppet Maker: Ihsan Abou Said
Visual Support: Majd Amer
Performance: Zei, Yasmine Soliman, Hamada Ghadeer, Sophie Erlenkamp
Puppeteer: Majed Al-khatib & Jule Schneidermeier