Anatomie eines Suizids

TASK

Projections on three identically sized rectangles in the stage image were to become the mirror image of memories. For the audience, this was intended to expand the narrative and the space.

Nanouk Leopold directs "Anatomy of a Suicide," based on the playwright Alice Birch, at the Berliner Ensemble. The Dutch filmmaker let her home department flow into the play, which was to be seen in the video and image projections in the stage design. The aim of this part of the production was to reflect inner images and memories of the three characters.

The representation of three interrelated family fates resulting from the play was to be achieved by separating the stage into three parts, each with a projection screen in the background.

This was to provide the opportunity to tell more about each character and their inner images in parallel through image and video.

SOLUTION

The StageDesigner was used to map onto the three equally sized screens, set video, image and text cues and triggered via DMX from the lighting console. The spectacle is extended by space and narrative layers through projection.

Using the grid function in StageDesigner "Keystone", video performance artist Bahadir Hamdemir, who works at the Berliner Ensemble, was able to immediately divide the media into three elements of equal size and precisely adjust them to the projection surface with just a few clicks. At the same time, he used the UV View to determine how much of the projected content should be visible in the three elements.

StageDesigner Playlist allowed the video, image and text cues to be set according to the script. The tabular arrangement of the playlist, which could be expanded by rows and lines as needed, allowed Hamdemir to make the logical structure of the sequences visually apparent.

Due to the frequently changing speech cues and the associated change of the projections shown, DMX triggers were set in the playlist parallel to the actual cues. Thus, the lighting technology was able to trigger cues in the StageDesigner via the GrandMA console synchronously with the actors' cues.

In this way, the audience could literally see behind the characters with only a few projected words, landscapes, spaces and videos.

The production demonstrates how the medium of video can be used to tell more and deeper stories about the play and their characters. In addition, the interconnected projected motifs create a panorama that visually opens up and enlarges the space for the viewer.

Applications

StageDesigner
Keystone
Playlist
DMX
Spout

Credits

Nanouk Leopold (Director)
Elsje de Bruijn (Stage)
Wojciech Dziedzic (Costumes)
Donato Wharton (Music)
Arnaud Poumarat (Light)
Bahadir Hamdemir (Co-Video-Design and Camera)
Amely Joana Haag (Dramaturgy)

Wilhelm Müller (Photography)