Kosa la Vita – Kriegsverbrechen

Did two Rwandans command a cruel war in eastern Congo from Germany by text message and e-mail? Are they responsible for massacres and rapes committed there by a militia? Was a “warlord” in Baden-Württemberg hiding behind the façade of the devout family man? For four years, these questions were negotiated in a grueling trial at the court in Stuttgart. Interpreters argued with the defendants about translation details, deserted fighters were flown in, anonymous witnesses to the victims were questioned via live video – a precedent that made even the judges doubt their task. Is it legitimate for them to judge war crimes in eastern Congo? Can the truth about a conflict 6,000 kilometers away be fathomed from a German courtroom? Does this help the victims? Kosa La Vita – War Crimes examines the limits of global jurisdiction using the means of documentary music theater. Using string instruments and court documents, five performers create a fragmentary echo of the taking of evidence: the noise of destruction, stuttering radio messages, paragraph chants and the silence of the victims.

A production by Flinn Works and Quartett PLUS 1 / Das ist erst der Anfang e.V.

A project by Konradin Kunze, Simon Zigah (performance), Katharina Pfänder (violin), Lisa Stepf (violoncello), Kathrina Hülsmann (viola), Sophia Stepf (direction), Matthias Schubert (composition), Tatjana Kautsch (costume design), Annekatrin Utke (assistant director), Gijs Wisse (technical director), Helena Tsiflidis (production management)

Supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, the Lower Saxony Foundation, the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture, the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation, the Sparkasse Goslar Peine Hildesheim, the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art, the Cultural Office of the City of Kassel, the Hildesheim Civic Foundation, the Friedrich Weinhagen Foundation and the Gerhard-Fieseler-Foundation.

The project was made possible by flausen – young artists in residence, a scholarship model project by theater wrede+

In co-production with Sophiensæle Berlin and Theater Bremen

Events

Sophiensæle Berlin: September 24 (opening) & 25, 2018 / Theater Bremen: October 20 & 21, 2018 / Staatstheater Kassel: October 23 & 24, 2018 / Theaterhaus Hildesheim: October 29, 2018 / Eisfabrik Hannover: June 27 & 28, 2019

Press

How to achieve what one would hardly think possible: the setting of massacres to music. Musicians and performers (...) let sound collide with words. The words connect with the destroyed violins in the center of the stage. And from them, the gaze wanders back to the intact instruments of the musicians. The result is a powerful associative space.

theater der Zeit, 11/2018

The complex theme was transformed into the form of a performatively enriched concert by the artists in a work process lasting several years. Composer Matthias Schubert found impressive solutions for a project that initially seemed impossible. The idea of transmitting a radio message is outstanding: the strings and bows of the string instruments become signal transmitters - they are morphed. In addition, voices, breathed, whispered, roughened, letter by letter, lasting an eternity, transmit the command to ensure a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

taz, die tageszeitung

By giving a voice to the German terror in Rwanda in an excursus, namely that of Hermann von Wissmann, Kosa La Vita also refuses to take a frivolous position. Instead, the artists meticulously work out the difficulties of the process to the challenging music of composer Matthias Schubert. One might be reminded of The International Criminal Court, which Gintersdorfer/Klaßen presented at Theater Bremen around six years ago. However, Kosa La Vita is formally more stringent and more impressive in its relentlessness. It is regrettable that this important play could only be seen twice at the weekend in Bremen.

Kreiszeitung