„THE LAST 15“ – THALIA THEATER, HAMBURG

home is where the heart is

As the hosts of You Perform, the actors from Thalia Theater Hamburg are under special pressure. How do we find the right words to share our message?

In the beginning it is quiet on stage. With an authentic shyness a player is looking for his buddy in the audience "Hey, come up here now!" In embarrassing silence, the five performers gradually trudge onto the stage. Everyone seems unsure how to fill the fifteen minutes that the performance is supposed to last. Could the youthful overwhelm with the world be staged in better way? After a call from the director the seriousness of the situation becomes clear: "Guys, you only have seven minutes left, now or never!" Seven minutes until everything is over. No time to run away from the stage, away from all problems. Instead, they call their friend one last time to say they’re sorry, write a farewell letter to the world or cut fresh fruit like their mother did when they were sad. In depressing monotony, the kitchen knife cuts the banana into thin slices. Tok, tok, tok. The brutal beats into the wood break the swelling silence that slowly crushes the sanity of the group. All embarrassment is gone and out of sheer despair over the unavoidable apocalypse, the young people are speechless. Instead they use the lyrics of the German rapper Danger Dan: "We become ashes, return to the nothingness from which we all once came.” It is here where in addition to pessimism, they find a fresh sense hope: "There is still time for you and me, so sleep with me today". After all, the best way get through the end of the world is together.

Text by Emilie Willner