Felix Baumann

HOW THINGS GO

PRESS

"The last four years have been more precarious than ever for theatre – a time of ingenuity but also exhaustion and exasperation. A clever clown production, How Things Go, performed by Felix Baumann and Sean Henderson, finds humour in the act of collaboration as its acrobatic heroes bicker and assist each other. To an accompaniment that sounds like a power drill, they form ramps, ladders and slides from their props. They’re playing with nothing more than a handful of wooden planks and boards but, as their show and the whole festival proves, the humblest of materials can take on a life of their own."

(The Guardian)

“Baumann and Henderson chose relativization of motion as one of the clear principles, working with the reaction speed and physical properties of wood. Precisely constructed gags drove the absurdities into increasingly absurd actions, especially in the layering of physical nonsense arising from the effort to build out something special of the available wood. They went in all possible directions (even outside the stage) and by manipulating the wood, by pushing it and replacing it, they changed the spatial arrangement, trying the vertical and the inclined plane..”

(Divadelní Noviny)

enter text here

PARTNERS

Many thanks to these institutions for providing residential spaces and support: Švestkový Dvůr / Plum Yard (CZ), Studio ALTA (CZ) and Gallerie für Gegenwartskunst / E-Werk Freiburg (DE)

The project was financially supported by: Švestkový Dvůr / Plum Yard - Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, State Fund for the Culture of the Czech Republic and South Bohemia region. The revision of the performance was funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media in the program NEUSTART KULTUR, aid program DIS-TANZEN of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland.

CREDITS

Concept, Direction, Interpretation: Felix Baumann (DE), Sean Henderson (US)

Stage and visual design: Felix Baumann (DE), Sean Henderson (US/CH)

Music design: Jakub Štourač (CZ)

Outside eye: Marie Gourdain (FR/CZ)

Light design: Jiří Šmirk (CZ)

Production: Von B bis Z | Baumann & Zöller GbR (DE)

Co-production: Švestkový Dvůr / Plum Yard (CZ)

Partner: Studio Alta Prag (CZ), Gallerie für Gegenwartskunst / E-Werk Freiburg (DE)

A production combining dance, physical theatre and circus with elements of the clownesque. The performance is amongst others inspired by The Way Things Go (1987), an art film by the Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss, which documents a long causal chain assembled of everyday objects. As well as the long traditions of silent movies and their founders like “Chaplin, Keaton, Llyod & others”.

In “How things go” two guys try to build something which is remarkable for their life. On the way their encounter with the objects causes a chain of reactions, where failure is incarnated, in the architecture of their plan. But without giving up and sustaining their sense of humor they keep rolling, stubborn like a stone falling into the water.

Baumann&Henderson

How Things Go