GIRL FROM THE FOG MACHINE FACTORY

INVITED TO THE 56. BERLINER THEATERTREFFEN 2019

It’s a simple, contemporary tale with a strange, magical ending. Business is slow in the small fog machine factory on the outskirts of town. No customers pass by the place, and in the current economic climate nobody wants to buy machines that actually produce nothing.
The owner of the factory and his employees – his son and an unpaid intern - are sitting in their showroom, feeling desperate about the future. But the answer to whether the company can be saved or not is in the literal clouds. To boost sales, the factory staff start experimenting with spectacular new fog solutions: fog waterfalls, fluorescent seas of fog, musical smoke, planetary rings, fog replicas of famous sculptures by Rodin and Giacometti and Böcklin's “Island of the Dead” with a rowboat, all made of fog, which isall too volatile, but still… The whole machine park and the full experience of 225 years of the company’s history will be shown to the few passers-by as well as images of ephemeral opulence and practical superfluity. Whether the future of the company can be saved by such beautiful, momentary shows remains literally “in the clouds”. One will see – or not.

The new creation by Swiss theatre author Thom Luz deals with the most elusive and ephemeral aspects of our human experience: how can you hold on to something that is in a constant state of flux? What place does poetry hold in a world that is increasingly monetized?

With Mathias Weibel, Mara Miribung, Samuel Streiff, Sigurdur Arent Jónsson, Fhunyue Gao

Director, Stage Design Thom Luz
Musical Director Mathias Weibel
Costumes Tina Bleuler, Katharina Baldauf
Sound Design Martin Hofstetter
Light Design Thom Luz, Tina Bleuler
Technical Director Li Sanli
Light Jens Seiler
Assistant Director Benjamin Truong
PR/Diffusion Ramun Bernetta
Production Management Gabi Bernetta

Production
Thom Luz und Bernetta Theaterproduktionen

Coproduction
Gessnerallee Zürich, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Kaserne Basel, International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg), Theater Chur, Südpol Luzern

Language German/English/French with Surtitles
Duration 70 Min.
Rights schaefersphilippen Köln

Premiere 17. Mai 2018 Gessnerallee Zürich

With the Support of
Zurich City of culture, Canton of Zurich, service of culture, Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, Committee of Experts Theatre and Dance BS/BL, Stanley Thomas Johnson Stiftung, Look Solutions Fog Machines, Schiedmayer Celesta, Viadukt*3