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© Steven M. Schultz -
© Stella Butz -
© Steven M. Schultz -
© Steven M. Schultz -
© Steven M. Schultz -
das Wetter zuhause. ein Wohnzimmerballett
Germany
the Weather at home. a Living-Room Ballet
Directing & Text
Aleksandr Kapeliush
Brief description
SWAN LAKE meets reality. Or the other way around. The weather, a living room and the ballet become the stage for a life story.
Language
German with english surtitles
Duration
60 min
Location
more about the artist
Content
This play asks: what is a biography?
Aleksandr Kapeliush was born in 1999 in St. Petersburg. He first studied theatre directing in Moscow. But he couldn’t finish his studies there. He has been studying in Germany since 2024. One assignment during his studies was: develop a play based on your own life story.
Political conflicts have had an impact on Aleksandr’s life. His play begins in a living room, when he was five years old. From there it leads to the present day. Aleksandr acts, tells stories, sings and dances. He mixed pop music with classical music from the ballet SWAN LAKE by Tchaikovsky.
His play shows: politics has a direct effect on people’s lives. Especially in countries where human rights, minorities and cultural diversity are at risk.
What is a biography? One topic given in the third year of the directing degree at the Academy of Performing Arts Baden-Württemberg is: develop a play based on your own biography. Aleksandr Kapeliush, who was born in 1999 in St. Petersburg in Russia, has been studying theatre directing in Germany since 2024, because he couldn’t continue his studies at the Moscow theatre academy GITIS. Although still quite young, several conflicts in current world events already crisscross his life story. His “biopic” – ruthlessly honest – begins with a journey into the past, to his family’s living-room when he was five years old, and from there takes us step by step back into his present and our own. To do this, the director, author and performer pulls out all the theatrical stops on a tiny stage. He tells the story, acts, sings, dances, cuts up pop made in America with Tchaikovsky’s SWAN LAKE. From SWAN LAKE, “holy” SWAN LAKE, Kapeliush takes the dramaturgy for his living-room ballet, of course newly interpreted and with a few crucial changes in the staging.
Aleksandr Kapeliush’s autobiographical project turned out to be a play with extraordinary relevance. All over the world, political positions that view multiculturalism and minority and human rights as a threat to the social order, and that want to return to “God given” normative models of life and the state, are becoming more influential. These are political ideas that directly target people’s biographies.
With Aleksandr Kapeliush
Text, Music & Directing Aleksandr Kapeliush
Choreographical Support Leonid Leontev Sound Dmitry Klenin Special Guest M. Amin Zariouh Voice Germaine Sollberger Mentoring Thomas Zielinski Artistic Director ADK Ludger Engels Technical Director ADK Friedemann Klappert Production Management ADK Monika Schumm Production performance in the third year of the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in directing at the Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden-Württemberg (ADK) in cooperation with Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Photos Steven M. Schultz, Stella Butz (Portrait Aleksandr Kapeliush)
Special thanks to Jana Riese, Florian Esche, Truike van der Poel, Seraphyma Chelina For, with and about Marina Solopchenko, Emil Kapeliush, Vera Latysheva
Content Notes