Theater Basel: no spoken words, no action, no actors, no spectators, no champagne during the intermission.
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Presence of absenceHell or paradiseThe DogPublished on 05/06/2020
A town in lockdown is a spooky thing, something all of us may have only known through films until recently. Practically empty squares and all but deserted streets. Iron shutters are shut tight, and on all locked entrance doors shopkeepers have stuck slips of paper informing passers-by of the reason for the temporary closure: Coronavirus.
No laughter and shouting echoing from schoolyards. No teenagers yelling: “Oh, my God!” Nobody having a conversation at the top of their lungs on their mobile phones. The sudden, unusual expanse of public space and the absence of people makes us quiet, urges us to withdraw into ourselves. We control ourselves in an unfamiliar manner and keep the mandatory distance.
This is it: the new world
The words Das ist sie jetzt: die neue Welt (This is it: the new world) on the neon sign is from a Theater Basel production. It covers the city like a veil and moves through the alleys, banishing the dignity and freedom we have known before. At twilight, the city becomes even more fragile, even more deserted, like a gold-rush ghost town deserted from one day to the next. There are no traces of devastation, but you can feel that the soul of the city is under attack.
The people of Basel have to stay at home. Sometimes you can find hints of this wounded soul, such as a discarded protective mask. Lonely shadows walk along the wall. If you are lucky, you will see people enjoying the warm and sunny weather. Will it be at the cost of a guilty conscience?
