MEDIATHEK

The DVD contents: Western Society (105 m 52s) Western Society Trailer (3 m 18s) 

"No one is where they are. They are talking to someone miles away. I miss them. But they are missing out - Sherry Turkle in Alone Together Western Society is a portrait of civilisation in the 21st century, like a frame through which we can peep into the living room of an unknown family, and recognize ourselves. Returning to our fascination with technology, this time Gob Squad zoom our camera directly into the centre of the western home. By exploring the internet’s remote darkness, Gob Squad have brought back a tiny satellite, a fairly unspectacular unwatched video of an anonymous living room, of a family gathering somewhere at the edge of the western world. There’s a party going on. A room full of people. Family, friends and strangers are all being held together by a karaoke machine: alone together and together alone. Gob Squad, dripping in bling, want to bring this little moment of lived reality back to life and they want to get the image just right. What are we doing here? What is this? Is this happiness? The performers keep asking themselves the same questions, wondering how the hell they got where they are today. As the performers search for answers, test their knowledge, show their best sides and spill their stories, reconstructing and projecting themselves into this tiny piece of history over and over again, a few lucky audience members may win the chance to take part in the shiny golden image. Western Society is inviting and isolating. It’s heaven and hell. Some see a nightmare, others a place they wished they could be – too real, too fake, too familiar, too strange. Meanwhile, always somewhere, and despite everything the party goes on and on and on. Everyone is there, young and old and all those in the middle, and you are there too…" 

Concept: Gob Squad 

Performed and Devised by: Johanna Freiburg Sean Patten Damian Rebgetz Tatiana Saphir Sharon Smith Berit Stumpf Sarah Thom Bastian Trost Simon Will 

Video: Miles Chalcraft 

Sound Design: Jeff McGrory 

Technical Coordination and Lighting Design: Chris Umney 

Costumes: Emma Cattell Kerstin Honeit 

Realisation and Set Design: Lena Mody 

Dramaturgy and Production Management: Christina Runge 

Artistic Assistant: Mat Hand 

Gob Squad Management: Eva Hartmann

Interns: Sarah Sarina Rommedahl Sophie Galibert 

Documentation Video Camera: Stefanie Schmitt Florian Köhler

Documentation Video Edit: Florian Köhler 

Berlin Cast: Sean Patten Sharon Smith Berit Stumpf Sarah Tom and seven members of the audience 

Western Society is a Gob Squad Production. Western Society was Originally Commissioned by and Developed with support from: Centre Theatre Group Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director, Los Angeles, CA The World Premiere Production of Western Society was Originally Produced by: HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin Spielart Festival Munich brut Vienna A House on Fire coproduction with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union