Bühne Cipolla (DE)

“Aufzeichnungen aus dem Kellerloch” (Notes from Underground) by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells the story of a nameless civil servant in the thicket of the big city who gives up work, friends and social obligations in order to eke out his existence in a kind of social experiment in a cellar with the help of a small inheritance. Confronted with the pitfalls of being alone, he repeatedly returns to the outside world, picks a fight with a high-ranking officer, escalates a class reunion, and questions the relationship between man and woman with a chance acquaintance.

It is the psychological portrait of an impossible character: he despises prestige and success, but at the same time is ashamed of his modest lifestyle. He has to smash every possibility of happiness and push it far away, only to long for it silently. And yet, there is a sharp social analysis in his struggling against lies and beautiful appearances.

Published in 1864, the novella is a bitterly wicked joke, an exploration of the human soul’s landscape, combined with an invitation to become aware of one’s own individuality. The stage version blends quotations from Dostoyevsky’s original text with elements of puppet theatre, live cello and keyboard music to provide an unusual and memorable theatrical experience.