Compagnie 111 / Aurélien Bory (FR)

There is a theatre on an island in the Mediterranean, more precisely, on an island that is steeped in world history like no other. The sea here seems to be a continent in itself, but unfortunately it has now become the silent theatre of unbearable tragedies. Palermo is a name of Arabic origin and means ‘open harbour’. Even today, the tradition of hospitality and tolerance is part of the city’s DNA.

Aurélien Bory’s spectacular productions regularly delight Erlangen audiences. Following in the footsteps of Pina Bausch, he combines in ‘invisibili’ theatre, dance and visual art in front of a 15th century fresco. In Palermo, he discovered ‘Triumph of Death’, a large mural that used to hang in a bourgeois hospital. A reproduction of it now adorns the backdrop of the stage. On it, the dancers and performers of the company conjure up 111 tragic fates of our time, whether in connection with migration or illness. Between danced image and macabre round dance, ‘invisibili’ enters into a dialogue with the figures in the fresco and makes visible what has neither form nor colour: death and time.

In his new piece, choreographer and director Aurelién Bory, a poet of stage space and a guest of the international figuren.theatre.festival Erlangen for over ten years, tells of the secret bonds that hold us and things together. About the memories, the traces of the past that remain hidden but shape the present and interweave the stories of people travelling and wandering.