Someone or Other

“All the world’s a stage,
and all the men and women merely players.”
— William Shakespeare, As You Like It

 

Someone or Other takes its starting point in the surveillance apparatus of the former East German Ministry of State Security, the Stasi—one of the most extensive systems of monitoring and control in modern history.

Through a network of informers and secret files, the Stasi sought to infiltrate private life in order to identify potential threats to the state. Personal relationships, conversations and everyday actions became part of an immense system of observation.

The performance draws on this historical context to explore questions that remain central today. In an age of digital technology and mass data collection, the boundaries between privacy and security are increasingly blurred.

How should privacy be understood in a society defined by surveillance?
How far are we willing to go in exchange for safety?
And at what point does protection become control?

Someone or Other examines the theatrical structures of surveillance and the fragile relationship between individual freedom and collective security.

 

Performances

Black Box Teater — Oslo, Norway (Premiere, 2018)

Generale Oost — Arnhem, Netherlands (Dutch premiere, 2019)

Theater aan het Spui — The Hague, Netherlands (2019)

Theater Kikker — Utrecht, Netherlands (2019)

Festival Cement — ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (2019)