At the Ruhrtriennale 2023, Artistic Director Barbara Frey presented the staging of Fyodor Dostoevsky's monologue “Notes from Underground” with Nina Hoss in the lead role as the conclusion of her tenure. The performances took place in the mixing plant at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein in Essen.
In this production, Nina Hoss embodies a nameless, embittered intellectual who has retreated into the isolation of an underground hole. His monologue reflects on the inadequacies of modern man, his own depravity, and the contradictions of existence. Dostoevsky's text serves as a thematic and philosophical basis for his later great novels.
The staging utilized the unique atmosphere of the industrial architecture to emphasize the inner turmoil and existential questions of the protagonist. The audience traversed the mixing plant, past old rollers and rusty steel beams, before witnessing the intense monologue.
“Notes from Underground” was praised by critics for its compelling performance and the successful combination of text, space, and acting. The production was an outstanding contribution to the Ruhrtriennale and a worthy conclusion to Barbara Frey's artistic directorship.
I work closely with directors, costume designers, producers and actors/singers/dancers to conceptualize and define the desired look for each character.
My team and I need to be able to apply different make-up and hair techniques on this basis to achieve the desired look.
I am responsible for the budget and personnel management of the make-up team.
I ensure that resources and budgets are used effectively and monitor the quality and working hours of the team.
I also ensure compliance with the safety and hygiene regulations for the use of make-up artist products.
Make-up artists and actors have to harmonize well with each other personally. The right composition of the team inspires the preparation and application of make-up and hair.
From the artistic concept to the final realization, I create masks and mask parts that are perfectly tailored to the respective requirements.
I design and realize make-up and hairstyles that emphasize the personality and features of the character and have the best possible effect, especially on stage.
I design and create perfectly coordinated wigs and hairpieces using my extensive knowledge of styles and styles.
There will be another change in artistic direction in 2021: The artistic director for the Ruhrtriennale 2021 – 2023 is Barbara Frey, who, as a proven drama director, will open the festival herself in the Maschinenhalle Gladbeck with The Fall of the House of Usher.
As always, premieres in dance, music theater, performance and installations will follow throughout the Ruhr region. In the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, this includes the music theater Bählamms Fest. The production by the Irish collective Dead Centre follows the oppressive story of a family’s life in the countryside with impressive images and surreal scenes. This premiere is accompanied by the opening of two new creative spaces on the same site. One is the festival library with book recommendations from the artists of the season and the other is the Pappelwaldkantine. Anyone who had already written off the poplars – once elevated to the status of a baroque garden – has been taught a much nicer lesson: with just a few resources, a previously inhospitable place has been transformed into a romantic meeting place.
For many visitors, A Divine Comedy by Florentina Holzinger is certainly one of the most moving performances of the season. A daring venture is taking place at the Kraftzentrale Duisburg: something bold and artistically elaborate is being dared there. Rarely has a female perspective on the world come to the Ruhrtriennale stage with so much power and imagination (to be honest, perhaps never before).
A gem of contemplative power takes place at the Museum Folkwang: The Life Work by Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen. It is touching to experience how four old Japanese women calmly act in micro-movements in an atmospherically dense space, while memories of their long lives are heard off-screen. Memories of growing up, in turn, are “exhibited” in the Turbinenhalle Bochum: In the video installation 21, Mats Staub portrays narrators as listeners of their own words. One of the few commissioned compositions of considerable length in the festival’s history is D • I • E by Michael Wertmüller. We take our seats on swivel chairs in the immediate vicinity of the conductor Titus Engel and surrounded by four groups of musicians. An experience of community that has become rare during the epidemic.
Source: RUHRTRIENNALE
