SZENE
Salzburg

At the Sommerszene Frans Poelstra sets out for a series of solo improvisation performances in which he will investigate WHY with the aim to get rid of WHY by the end of 2024.

At the age of ten in religious class at school I had to read a little book: De Schoolkatechismus(The School Catechism). This little book started with a question:
“Why are we on earth?” I had to learn the answer by heart, which I forgot (it had to do with serving God), but what I didn‘t forget was WHY. It stayed in my mind for the rest of my life and every time during times of doubt, depression and uncertainty WHY popped up in a big flashing neon sign in front of my eyes, without ever leading to an answer. Now, after more then 54 years, I think it‘s about time to let WHY disappear.

The Dutch director, performer and dramaturg Frans Poelstra has been living in Vienna for more than 15 years. Throughout his career Frans Poelstra participated in and (co-)organised numerous music-dance improvisation performances. Some of those performances were legendary, some were extremely embarrassing, and over the years he developed an ambiguous sentiment towards improvisation on stage. Strangely enough, despite this ambiguous sentiment, he finds in improvisation the perfect method in his quest to get rid of WHY, but only in front of an audience. At this year’s festival he can be experienced on two occasions: in his solo WHY and in Michikazu Matsune’s All Together.

73min, in Englisch, limited capacity.