If you interrogate Schubert’s Wanderer, far from his mountains, a whisper answers: “Dort, wo du nicht bist, dort ist das Glück.” (“Where you are not, that is where happiness is.”) Is happiness necessarily so inaccessible? Nicola Hümpel and her Navigators do not answer the question, but they ask it of us with an amazing virtuosity. Theatre and dance, conceived in directed improvs and collective research, are the instruments of this maieutic, this sequence of dialectical questions, using eighteen Schubert lieder, performed by the Ensemble Franui and the traditional sound of a Tyrolean village band.
Nico and the Navigators is one of the leaders of the German independent theatre. Associated with the Sophiensaele in Berlin, this cosmopolitan troupe has been developing for over ten years a whimsical, poetic theatrical universe, placed in a setting which evokes the sketches of the Bauhaus. The Navigators’ quest for happiness is perhaps unending, but an evening with them is nonetheless an important step in the right direction.
set design Oliver Proske ||| composition Andreas Schett, Markus Kraler ||| musical direction Andreas Schett ||| lighting Peter Meier ||| costumes Frauke Ritter, Nicola Hümpel ||| plastic collaboration Bertrand Freiesleben ||| by and with Niels Bovri, Christoph Glaubacker, Anne Paulicevich, Verena Schonlau, Patric Schott, Andreas Schwankl, Gerd Lukas Storzer, Miyoko Urayama ||| music Ensemble Franui ||| violin Elisabeth Harringer ||| alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet Romed Hopfgartner ||| double bass, accordion, harmonium Markus Kraler ||| harp, sitar, voice Angelika Rainer ||| cymbalum, guitar, voice Bettina Rainer ||| trumpet, cornet, voice Markus Rainer, Andreas Schett ||| slide trombone Martin Senfter ||| tuba Karlheinz Siessl ||| assistant to the director Jessica Glause ||| set assistant Jörg Scherrmann ||| set collaboration Melanie Grieß, Tom Hanke, Daniel Heymann, Enrico Knorr, Peter Meier, Florian Riedelbauch ||| sound Arne Glaß, Mattef Kuhlmy ||| costume intern Lena Nocke
Production Nico and the Navigators | des Bregenzer Festspiele — KAZ.
With the support of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes | the city of Berlin | Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft | Forschung und Kultur. In cooperation with the Sophiensaele, Berlin.
