THE SENSE OF BELONGING

April 2022 / Schauspiel Hannover

set design & costume design

Team: Juan Miranda, Mazlum Nergiz, Barbara Kantel,

Heiko-Thandeka Ncube

Acting: Abdulsattar Alhmeidi, Anna Just, Chania Ngabonziza,

Deyan Mitev, Elena Jantos, Elena Yohannes Mulugeta, Emirhan Elevli, Johanna Andrea Böttcher, Liby Mechler, Nil-Selin Yilmaz, Theresa Tahlia Stange, Tony Schumacher, Toprak Inan, Vesa Osmanaj

The Sense of Belonging is an excessive search for the images we make of ourselves. What do these pictures show? And what not? What lived or imagined life are they talking about?

Between identity stress and the perfect look, young people from Hanover and the region have developed a play about the best pose and the most promising selfie.

They use strategies of visual self-staging and use improvisations,

movements and personal stories.

What is the best way to present myself and my story? Is she even special?

Or do I prefer to disappear and share absolutely nothing about myself?

They reflect on a contradictory world in which the power of origin and class allows them little escape, and at the same time all doors seem to be open.

A world where posing is more important than being. A world in which reality and ideal exist side by side, with each other and mostly also against each other.

With their bodies and copies, they create a panorama that tells of the desire to belong.

The Sense of Belonging is a collage that, based on the status of my, our, and your pictures, asks the question: would you rather know me or show me? Or is it possible to do both?