Documents

Abstract

This interview with the German collective Rimini Protokoll and their core members Helgard Haug, Daniel Wetzel, and Stefan Kaegi, discusses their innovative 'Reality Theatre' pieces in which they work exclusively with amateur performers they refer to as 'experts'. The talk explores both their site-specific-type work such as Cargo Sofia, devised around two (real) Bulgarian truck drivers, as well as their recent work on textbased material, as in their productions of Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein and Karl Marx's Capital. They discuss their working methods, inspirations, and dramaturgic approaches, and give insights into how they avoid exhibitionism and dilettantism in working with their 'experts', as well as addressing the political undertones of their works. Finally, Rimini Protokoll reflect on their own status as a nomadic collective without a designated homebase, and the latest embracing of their work by institutionalized theatres who have begun to coproduce and commission their unique projects.