The whole truth about lies

musictheatre

The fascination with the false is as seductive as it is fatal: “Mundus vult decipiatur – The world wants to be deceived”, says a Roman proverb, “Tell me Lies” sings Fleetwood Mac in a pop classic. But what – to paraphrase Georg Büchner – “is that in us that lies, steals, hurts and murders?” Why do we amuse ourselves with fictional impostors like Felix Krull or Baron Münchhausen, while we fall for real-life pied pipers in politics and business?

The well-known and ever-present fact that deception can only be measured and evaluated in its relation to truth lays the foundation for the new play by NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS. In a time when alternative facts and deep fakes shake every certainty, “The whole Truth about Lies” asks about the value of our perception – and uses the means of that art in which beautiful appearances are considered an appointment from the outset. In a typically navigational manner, the ensemble searches the dark depths of the classical heritage as well as the glittering surface of contemporary music for evidence of self-deception and heteronomy, for white lies and fallacies. Above all, however, there could be a word from the biblical Psalms that wants to be read like a truth: “I said in my dismay, All men are liars.”

team

artistic direction

stage, technical direction
musical direction
dramaturgy
costumes

dance

soprano
bass baritone

performance

piano
violin
drums
guitar
trumpet

diego muhr
robin plenio

nicola hümpel
oliver proske
paul hübner, tobias weber
andreas hillger
mary akoury

yui kawaguchi, martin buczko, florian graul

peyee chen

andrew munn

annedore kleist, patric schott

mathis bereuter
anne-sophie bereuter
lucas johnson
jo ambros
paul hübner

video, operating
video, AI Design

shows

2024

schwetzinger SWR festspiele
radialsystem berlin

a production by NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, supported by the berlin senate department for culture and europe and the hauptstadt kultur fonds. In cooperation with Radialsystem.