THE MEDITERRANEAN MONOLOGUES

Note: Surtitles in Arabic, English and French/ Followed by: Audience discussions with activists

The Mediterranean Monologues are documentary theatre. Author Michael Ruf (Word and Heartbeat) conducts interviews that last several hours, sometimes several days. These interviews are then simply abbreviated and condensed. Nothing else is invented and the language used is retained. Literal, literal theatre. Inspired by these interviews, Michael Ruf also wrote song lyrics, which were musically implemented in collaboration with composers. The result was “Tons of Water” (composition: Marlène Colle), “We fall into silence” (composition: Torsten Knoll) and “The Memories always return” (composition: Peer Kleinschmidt). Since December 2021, these songs have been an integral part of the Mediterranean monologues.

The Mediterranean Monologues tell of people who take the risky route across the Mediterranean in the hope of being able to live in safety in Europe — about Libyan coast guards, Italian sea rescue agencies and German authorities who prevent this, and about activists who oppose deaths in the Mediterranean. As volunteers on an alarm phone, these activists convince the coast guards to rescue people in distress at sea or learn how to prevent people from drowning on the Seawatch — in short, they are actually doing the most obvious thing, but this is anything but self-evident in 2022: saving human lives!

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It is as if the actors address the people in the audience directly, shake hands with them and pull them into a world that will no longer leave viewers cold: entangled, engulfed, connected and networked with the protagonists of the Mediterranean monologues, the audience eagerly follows the paths of the stories told. When the actors whisper, remain silent, carefully throw a word into the room, get louder now and then, raise their voice demanding or angry, even almost scream once, then the sounds do not reach the audience abstractly, then the audience is met and touched directly and in all their physicality by what has been said. When the actress looks at the audience, they are involved in what is happening, which she knows and believes took place in reality.