BE LOUD – at the Stasi headquarters in Berlin

By bringing this history of opposition to light, we offer a different perspective to the distorted historical record and the State Security service, showing how women mobilised, dared to take risks and took action, and thereby reflecting on the current women-led uprisings taking place worldwide.

Due to the political relevance and high demand for this piece, five further performances will take place in November at the site of repression, revolution and now enlightenment – the Campus for Democracy. The ideas, thoughts and concepts that inspired the women back then remain relevant today: peace and democracy, nuclear armament, environmental destruction, moral courage, solidarity and justice.

Theatre beyond the theatre building. With the performance *BE LOUD*, we are occupying the site that served as the headquarters of the Ministry for State Security for 40 years. The hostility towards humanity associated with this place still radiates from the buildings on the site. By returning to this historic site, we deny the Ministry for State Security a voice and tell the story solely from the perspective of the peace women. The performance takes place in Building 22, the ‘Field Marshal’s Hill’ at the centre of the complex.

Five female performers explore elements of the Peace Women’s memoirs from the book edited by Almut Ilsen and Ruth Leiserowitz ‘Be Loud! The Women for Peace in East Berlin!’ (Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2019), weaving them into an associative, emotional narrative that explores the boundaries between personal and historical reality, and between individual and social responsibility.

“Together we set out on a journey into our past, having had our very own experiences as children in this country, at roughly the same age as the children of the ‘Women for Peace’.” (Alexandra Finder)

The structure of the performance is inspired by significant moments in the group’s work. The chairs and tables on hand are the only furniture – a symbol

of the long conversations, discussions and action planning carried out by the opposition group, and not least of the round-table talks in which the ‘Women for Peace’ actively participated. Video projections and sound create a landscape of light and images, composed of archive material, original audio recordings and evocative imagery, which elevates the action on stage to an abstract level. The music is strongly inspired by the history of this venue. At its heart are live percussion and other instruments.

The climax of the performance is modelled on the ‘Political Night Prayers’ held by the ‘Women for Peace’ in the church, during which participants publicly criticised political and social conditions in this unique, somewhat sheltered public space for dissenting views. The Stasi headquarters is an emblematic site for Berlin and the entire history of the GDR. By engaging with it as an instrument of repression, the performance transforms this space into a place of democratic exchange.

“During and after the performance, every member of the audience in the room is left to ask themselves: how much moral courage do I show, how much political participation do I engage in?” (a member of the audience).

The Women for Peace movement was concerned with self-determination in both the private and public spheres. This concept finds its contemporary expression in the formation of a FLINTA* creative team. Through our art, we focus our gaze beyond patriarchal structures and thus participate in the international discourse on gender and self-determination.

Performers – Alexandra Finder, Julia Glasewald, Claudia Graue, Agnes Mann, Ulrike

Panse

Revival supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, in cooperation with the BArch and the Robert Havemann Society.

Trailer