MEDIATHEK

Thomas Melle sits on stage. At least, an almost-perfect copy of him does. It is in fact a humanoid robot that looks and sounds like Melle, and that offers us a sense of constancy in UNCANNY VALLEY. Because Melle has a form of manic depression known as bipolar disorder, that constancy is sometimes unavailable to the author, a fact that he wrote about in the unsparing, linguistically brilliant biographical novel “Die Welt im Rücken” (The world at your back). To overcome his own panic during public appearances, Thomas Melle often behaved like an automaton. Now Melle appears on stage as a complete automaton and talks about his disease and the relationship between humans and machines. 

Does the original Melle get to know himself better through his electronic double? Can the robot replace Man? On a human level, what effect does a machine have on an audience? And, on an intuitive level, on theater? In their impressive staging, Thomas Melle and Stefan Kaegi reflect upon and document how humanoids are replacing humans and how the machine is becoming a space of projection for the future. On a fundamental level, the piece is also an enlightening examination of the live medium that is theater.

/ Cast & Credits /

Concept / Text / Direction: Stefan Kaegi

This play from Rimini Protokoll has originally been produced by the Münchner Kammerspiele, in coproduction with  Berliner Festspiele - Immersion, donaufestival (Krems), Feodor Elutine (Moscow), FOG Triennale Milano Performing Arts (Milano), Temporada Alta - Festival de Tador de Catalunya (Girona), SPRING Utrecht 

Performing rights: Rowohlt Theater Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg

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